Transformers Prime: Rebuilding
by Saani
Summary: Five years have passed in relative peace since the Autobots restored Cybertron and began the massive task of rebuilding, but that's about to change when both Autobots and Decepticons from the past return. Episode Five: An old enemy escapes.
1. Earth (Part 1)

**Earth (Part 1) **_  
_

* * *

"'Flight! Relax already okay? Only a few more hours and we're there."

The small silver and red female bot was pacing around the _very_ small transport ship and fidgeting constantly, her large elegant wings folded down and twitching impatiently behind her. She was tiny, a good head smaller than Sideswipe, her wings making up a quarter of her size and the heavy duty plasma cannon attached to her back above them making up another. She was lithe and delicately built and had an elaborate red crest on her forehead as well as large pale blue optics, almost white, which were currently darting around and trying to find something interesting to focus on. Damn flyers and their claustrophobia.

When the little bot failed to respond, a loud burst of music echoed through the cabin, courtesy of the ship's third inhabitant Jazz. He was small as well; shorter than Fireflight but a little more heavily built. He was mostly a striking silver colour, with hints of black around his joints and such, a pair of audial horns on top of his head and a visor over his eyes. Attached to one of his arms was a grappling hook, and on the other was a speaker, the source of the loud music and the reason the poor flyer had almost jumped through the roof.

"Oh real good Jazz," Sideswipe snarked, glaring at the smaller bot. "Let's terrify the already jumpy Aerialbot."

The volume dropped slightly and Jazz gave Fireflight a sheepish grin. "Sorry. I just find music helps me relax, thought it might help ya too."

Sideswipe rolled his optics, returning his attention to piloting the small ship. He was a deep red colour, also with black around his joints, face and horns, standing out against his bright blue optics. He was the largest of the three and the most heavily built, with much thicker armour. That didn't leave him completely immobile compared to the others though, as he had a powerful sleek jet-pack attacked to his back. Not that it was any use trapped inside this stupid ship.

He enjoyed flying, piloting was one of his best talents, but there was only so much he could take of the small enclosed space alongside these two.

Fireflight and he were close, good friends despite her spacey personality and apparent crippling fear of enclosed spaces. She was a sweet bot with a good spark that tended to see the best in everyone and everything, something he very much appreciated. It also helped that she found him funny and interesting to talk to. However, she was one of those people that were…best in small doses. Jazz was his unit's well-respected and probably infamous commander; a very intelligent and highly trained Cyber-ninja with a fondness for explosives and of course blaring music. Not that his superiority was going to stop Sideswipe from throttling the smaller bot if he sent 'Flight into another full-blown panic attack.

Sure enough though, she responded to the constant noise as expected, panicking and beginning to bang on the sealed door. "Lemme out! Lemme out! I can't take this anymore!"

"Whoops." Jazz stated with a grin, looking anything but sorry. The little glitch had probably done it on purpose, wanting a rest stop himself.

"I hate you." Sides grumbled at Jazz, re-aiming the ship towards a nearby chunk of space rock and going in for a quick landing.

* * *

Fireflight was out of the ship the second the door released, the thrusters in her feet activating and sending her spiraling into the air where she proceeded to transform. Her plating and systems rearranged themselves in an instant, turning her into a Cybertronian jet with her large cannon attached to the bottom. She shot out into space, gliding along the side of the rock and letting out a gleeful 'wee!'

The other two had land-based vehicle modes, leaving them to explore the rock by either wheels or feet until their companion had gotten it out of her system. Both were careful to keep her in sight though; she had damn near no sense of direction and a knack for getting lost even in the most unlikely of places.

"Guess she needed it more than I thought," Sideswipe commented, wandering out of the ship and stretching out his tight muscle cables, wincing at the sounds some of them made. When he received no answer, he turned around to glance at Jazz, finding the ninja nowhere to be seen. "Have I mentioned recently that I _really_ hate when you do that?" He called out, huffing and leaning back against the ship to wait for his teammates.

This constant stopping in the middle of space was boring; he hoped they were able to reach their destination without any other interruptions.

The trio were headed towards Earth; a tiny little mud ball inhabited by organics off in the middle of nowhere, in search of information on a team their faction had left on the planet a number of years back. They were Autobots; the good side of the civil war that ravaged their home world of Cybertron, or so they claimed. The other side, the Decepticons likely believed the same to be true of them. Whichever was the case, the planet was dead and the remaining bots had scattered to the stars.

The particular team they were after consisted of the faction's leader Optimus Prime as well as their head medic Ratchet among others. They hadn't received any communications from them in close to ten years, something Jazz decided to investigate, likely out of both worry and sheer boredom. Sideswipe and Fireflight had simply been with him at the time.

Jazz returned a few minutes later, leaping down from the top of the ship and startling the red bot. "Yup." He answered, Sideswipe taking a moment to realise it was an answer to his previous shouting.

"Delayed response much?" He grouched, crossing his arms. "Where were you?"

"Explorin'," The small silver bot replied cheerily. "We're not the only ones that decided to take a pit stop here."

"Seekers again?" Sideswipe asked wearily. He was usually fond of a good fight, but these particular Decepticons had been obsessively tailing them for ages, and were actually easily a match for them, mostly because they could fly. They also had a reasonable field medic among them and were in much better condition that Sideswipe's little team.

"Looks like." Jazz replied, already transforming down into his little silver hover-car form. "Get the ship runnin' again; I'll grab 'Flight."

One mock-salute later and Sideswipe was doing as told, cursing the little ship as it struggled to start up at the speed he was demanding of it. "I know, I know," He mumbled, smacking a section of the control panel that was coming lose. "Just this one last time? Please?"

"Talking to your non-sentient ship?" A smooth feminine voice sneered from just outside. "And here everyone keeps claiming _I'm_ the crazy one."

"You are, what with all the stalking you get up to." Sideswipe retorted, unsheathing blades out of the tops of his wrists and over his fists as he cautiously made his way out of the ship. "I know I'm gorgeous and all, but why can't you just take no for an answer?"

"Oh you know me, I just can't get enough of egotistical morons that think they're witty," The femme replied dryly. She had a similar frame to Fireflight, including the way her wings hung down behind her, but she was larger all around and deep green and black. Her red eyes were narrowed and mouth twisted into a nasty smirk. "Where's your little girlfriend?"

"Not here," Sideswipe answered truthfully enough; he couldn't see either of his teammates anymore. "I'm afraid you'll just have to settle for getting your sorry can kicked by me."

"Cute," The femme, Slipstream, replied mockingly, pulling a number of throwing knives out of nowhere and balancing them between her fingers. "But it doesn't matter. Even if I waste time on you, Skywarp and Thundercracker will find your little friend."

"Can't go anywhere without your little minions can you?"

"Afraid not. They're lost without me you see."

Sideswipe rolled his optics and lunged towards the Decepticon, slicing with his blades. She gracefully ducked and rolled out of the way, throwing her knives straight at his face as soon as she was upright once again. He blocked two of them with his blades, a loud clang echoing through the area, and the third and fourth went wide, although one of them scratched a horn on the way past. Wincing at the jolt that sent through his systems, he swung again, aiming for the jet's wings this time. She realised what he was up to instantly and back-flipped away, kicking him upside the chin. She then activated her thrusters, shooting up into the air above him where she proceeded to transform both arms into blasters and fire down at him.

Bringing his arms up to protect his face, Sideswipe glanced around frantically a moment before rushing to duck behind his poor abused ship for cover. _Probably_ not the best idea, but it'd do for the moment. Despite how battered he already was and low on energy, there was no way he'd lose to the likes of Slipstream, so he wracked his processor for any kind of plan with even half a chance of working.

Grinning, he transformed his own left arm into a powerful blaster and took a few shots in the Seeker's general direction. She reacted as expected, dropping down slightly and easily avoiding the blasts. His jet-pack roared to life and he flung himself up and straight towards Slipstream. She reacted too slowly, surprised he'd even attempt using the device with such low energy levels, and had only just finished transforming into her jet mode for more manoeuvrability when they collided. Sideswipe unsheathed his blades once again, slamming them into the flyer's wings violently, both to damage her and keep his grip. She cried out in pain, spiraling down towards the ground.

"This is gonna hurt," The red Autobot muttered right before both hit the ground and everything went black.

* * *

Meanwhile, Slipstream's buddies had managed to track down Fireflight right about the same time as Jazz, leading to a two-on-two fight. Actually, considering their sizes and less-than-stellar conditions at the moment, Jazz figured he and 'Flight probably only added up to a single bot between them. If they were lucky. Fireflight's inability to stay focused on one thing for more than a few minutes at a time really wasn't helping their cases, and even though Jazz knew it wasn't _entirely_ her fault, it was beginning to drive him just a little bit crazy. He was far too used to having teammates that worked effortlessly in tandem with him, practically reading his mind.

Skidding around a rock formation and narrowly avoiding the shots Thundercracker was firing down after him, Jazz threw his car form off a small ledge, transforming mid-fall so he could roll on impact and fire a few return shots of his own. When they all went wide, missing the mostly blue Seeker, he quickly shifted back and screeched off driving again, flaring out his sensors in an effort to find Fireflight. He'd lost sight of her a short while ago when Skywarp, the third Seeker, had chased her off in a random direction.

Speaking of the purple flyer, Jazz was forced to veer left suddenly to avoid a small rocket that had appeared suddenly in front of him and quickly spun out of control. Skywarp, true to his name, was capable of teleporting short distances even in his jet form; something most Autobots found incredibly annoying. He wasn't particularly smart or powerful, just always in one's face.

Transforming back to his root mode, the small silver bot threw himself to the ground as Skywarp roared overhead, a small silver and red form trailing after him and firing plasma blasts. Just as one finally collided with the Seeker's tail end and sent him crashing into the far-to-close-to-begin-with ground, Jazz was forced to focus on Thundercracker again; the larger bot transforming and landing right in front of him. He looked rather weary himself, although likely more psychologically than physically considering his teammates.

"Look, I really don't feel like fighting you today, so can you please just hand over the damn Aerialbot?" Thundercracker grouched, giving Jazz an exhausted look. "We'll leave you to deactivate in peace on this horrible rock."

"Oh gee, cause that's a real selling point there TC," Jazz retorted with an eye-roll, taking a step backwards warily. "I'm kinda fond of living thanks and lil 'Flight as well."

"Why? She's just as irritating as Skywarp, if not more. She's young, stupid, and far too powerful for her own good." The Seeker replied, glancing up at said bots as they more-or-less flew in large circles and missed shooting one another.

"One, ya don't mean that or ya wouldn't still be hangin' around him after so long," Jazz replied, counting off on his fingers. "And two, _because_ she's still young an' stupid. She's got her own weird outlook on life and I find it kinda refreshin'."

"I love how you ignored my third point. She's not half as innocent as all you Autobots like to believe." Thundercracker reminded him dully. "We're only after her because of what she and her brothers are capable of."

"Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah," Jazz replied mockingly, bored of the discussion now. Besides, he'd come up with an escape plan. "You gonna talk me to death or what?"

Not really one to be goaded into attacking thoughtlessly, Thundercracker hesitated, choosing to watch Jazz cautiously instead, just as the little ninja had planned. He waited until Skywarp and Fireflight looped back over their heads, before firing his grappling hook upwards. The blue Seeker reacted quickly, firing at where he expected the hook to go; towards Skywarp. Unfortunately for him (and possibly her too) it was aimed at Fireflight instead, looping around her tail end. Jazz was pulled up into the air and off in a random direction as Fireflight squeaked in fright and took off, leaving him to cheekily wave goodbye to the Seekers.

Haphazardly he pulled himself upward, small enough to awkwardly perch on Fireflight's back, cautious of her wings and really awful flying. She flew like a brick on a good day; his added weight was definitely not helping.

"A warning would've been nice!" 'Flight complained, pulling herself together enough to try and look for their ship. Luckily for her, it was shiny and stood out amongst the barren rock. "You _shot_ me!"

"I shot _at_ you, and you're fine so quit whinin'," Jazz responded, holding on for dear life as the female jet swerved down towards the ship. "Besides, shouldn't you be used to it with Siders around?"

"That was only one time," Fireflight retorted, struggling to steady herself and come in for a non-disastrous landing. "No wait, twice."

"Twice!? Why the frag are you still friends with-"

Jazz didn't get to finish his sentence, instead leaping for his life and rolling just as Fireflight hit the ground _hard_. The impact hurt, but not enough to knock him out like the other. Make that _others_. Sideswipe appeared to be unconscious nearby as well along with a mangled heap of metal that Jazz presumed was probably Slipstream.

"Oh this is just awesome." Jazz grumbled to himself; now forced to haul his larger and heavier teammates back into their very sad-looking ship that he had no idea how to fly. This would not end especially well.

* * *

_Greetings! This is my first venture into the Transformers fandom, so we'll see how it goes. I've had this idea kind of circulating in my head for a while now, but I'm only just getting it down now due to NaNoWriMo. As mentioned in the summary, it's set as a sequel of sorts to Prime and as such I've chosen to write it as a season. The general plan is for it to be 26 episodes long, each episode being about two chapters, but once again, we'll see how that goes._

_I'm always open to feedback, so let me know what you think! I have taken a lot of creative liberties with the 'new' characters, pulling from previous versions and mixing things up until I'm happy with it. Fireflight in particular I am very happy with, but once again, I'd love to hear your opinion._

_Also, usual disclaimers apply; I own nothing!_

_Till next time!_  
_~Saani_


	2. Earth (Part 2)

**Earth (Part 2)**

* * *

"Watchet!" A tiny voice called out from down near the floor. "Up! Up!"

Ratchet, a large white and orange Autobot, glanced down at the toddler on the ground and smiled, squatting down to offer her a palm to climb onto. The little dark-haired girl did so, seating herself confidently and glancing around without a care in the world as she was brought up to the bot's face. "My name is Ratchet," He reminded her fondly, lightly patting her head with a finger and stressing the first letter. "Rrrratchet."

"Watchet."

Heaving a sound similar to a human's sigh, Ratchet carefully set the little girl on the computer console he was working at, being sure to place himself between her and the very-far-away floor.

The little girl's name was Leah, and she was the two-year-old daughter of a pair of humans Ratchet worked alongside. They along with three teenage children had assisted the Autobots in protecting Earth from the Decepticons almost five years ago, and restoring Cybertron to the point where it was inhabitable once again. Back then there'd been other bots, but they'd since returned to Cybertron to begin rebuilding, and Ratchet had volunteered to stay behind on Earth, just in case. In truth, he'd found he was far fonder of the little humans than he'd ever dare to admit and hadn't wanted to leave them quite yet. June and Fowler's marriage and the subsequent birth of Leah had reinforced that even more. He absolutely adored the toddler and spoiled her rotten, something the children (now all grown adults Ratchet had to keep reminding himself) enjoyed teasing him about often.

Speaking of which…

"Aww look, Grandpa Ratch's at it again!"

Miko; the bane of Ratchet's existence. She was what twenty now, and just as much trouble as she was as a teenager. She was a tall, slender Japanese girl, decked out in jeans and a tank top, her black and pink hair tied in a short pony tail. Her face was lit up in a teasing grin as she elbowed the dark-haired man beside her. He too was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, an old pair of sneakers on his feet. His name was Jack, and he was Leah's much older brother at nearly twenty-two. Ratchet was still able to remember the look on his face when his mother had announced she was pregnant once again; it had been hilarious. Despite the slight mental breakdown he'd put them all through at the time, Jack was usually a calm, logical young man. He preferred to think things through before acting, which helped to balance Miko out at least a little. However, he was not above a little teasing himself.

"Aww," He cooed up at Ratchet, clasping his hands together mockingly.

Ratchet rolled his optics and ignored them, grumbling to himself as he returned to his work at the computer. It was mostly useless work, keeping a proximity sensor system up and running just in case any Autobots or Decepticons were to come to Earth, but it kept him busy so he didn't mind. Especially when the two young adults planted themselves on the human-sized couches stashed in a corner and began to play video games 'for old time's sake'.

He could hear Miko and Jack chattering away about Bulkhead and Arcee; two of Ratchet's fellow Autobots and the humans' respective guardians. The Autobots had originally lived on Earth in hiding, keeping themselves out of all but the most top-secret of sights, until Arcee accidentally got into a fight with some Decepticon drones right in front of three human children. The Cons had targeted them specifically, forcing Optimus Prime to assign them guardians and let them in on the secret. June as Jack's mother had eventually been dragged into the mess, and Fowler had been the Autobots' Government Liason, a position he had since retired from and Jack now held.

Ratchet smiled and shook his head; most of the Autobot team had been so against the idea in the first place, but now none of them knew how they'd get by without the humans. Even with them stationed on Cybertron most of the time, they always took the time out to visit the humans every once in a while. Ratchet glanced towards a massive tunnel built into a wall of the base; it was almost time for their monthly drop-in if he remembered correctly. Perhaps a few days?

The tunnel was their Space Bridge; a powerful teleportation device and Ratchet's other primary duty on Earth. He and the humans functioned as a small off-planet base for the team on Cybertron, somewhere they could get away to relax or receive extensive repairs when necessary. Usually the latter considering Ratchet was a far better medic than the one they currently had, if he did say so himself. He was responsible for keeping this side of the bridge in working condition and communications with the Cybertron team up.

Ratchet was startled out of his thoughts by a beeping sound, one he hadn't heard in years; the proximity sensors. Both Miko and Jack jumped up at the sound and hurried over. "Are the Cons back? Are they?" Miko demanded excitedly, jumping up and down. "Cause I can go get the armour and kick their cans if you want! You know, since you're so old now…"

The armour Miko refered to was the Apex Armour, an ancient Cybertronian relic their team had managed to pick up amongst all the fighting. On activation, it surrounded the user in an indestructible suit of armour. They'd learned through less-than-ideal circumstances, in which Miko was very nearly killed, that humans were capable of using the armour as well. She'd been allowed to hold onto it ever since, once again just in case.

Ignoring the crack at his age, he wasn't _that_ old yet; Ratchet shook his head, frowning in disbelief at the screen. "No, it's an Autobot ship. One I even recognise."

"What're they doing on Earth then? Shouldn't everyone be heading back to Cybertron by now?" Jack asked curiously, staring up at the screen himself.

"I have no idea, but it's one of the Ark's small transport ships, so it is definitely worth investigating." Ratchet replied, already picking up Leah and contacting her mother's phone via the base's comm. link.

* * *

Twenty minutes later found Ratchet speeding out of a Space Bridge portal in his Ambulance form, Miko (and her armour) and Jack strapped into his front seats, as he hurtled towards where he'd tracked the ship's crash site to be.

"So what exactly _is_ the Ark anyway?" Miko asked loudly over the roar of Ratchet's engine. "You guys have mentioned it heaps, but no one ever really bothered to explain it in detail."

"To you maybe," Jack snorted, crossing his arms over the seatbelt. "Arcee was never on it, so she hasn't told me much, but Bee's told Raf plenty of stories."

Raf was the youngest of the trio of teenagers, and Bumblebee his guardian, although Ratchet probably counted as a secondary guardian with the sheer amount of time he spent with the boy. Raf was a genius, a natural with computers and technology of most kinds, even Cybertronian. Ratchet had enjoyed teaching the shy boy about his home planet and their technology while learning about Earth's from a patient and non-demeaning teacher. The boy was eighteen now and off at college, but he regularly came by to visit. He definitely would once he heard about new Autobots landing.

"The Ark was the Autobots' biggest starship," Ratchet replied to Miko, his voice echoing wearily out of the vehicle's radio and lighting up the dashboard in tandem with his words. "We began building it when we first heard Cybertron was dying, as a means to evacuate as many of our forces as we could. Obviously we sent out many other ships as well, but I have no idea where any of them ended up _if_ they even managed to survive.

"The Ark however, travelled the stars, visiting many different planets and fighting the Decepticons wherever we came across them, until we ended up in your galaxy. Optimus was sensing something on one of the planets, so we gathered up a team to go investigate."

"You two, Bumblebee and Bulkhead," Jack added with a nod.

"Yes. We took one of the small transport ships and left, the Ark crew promising to loop back around in a couple of years if they didn't hear from us." Ratchet replied, entering a dense wood and having to slow his speed. "But they never did, even with all the messages Optimus sent out. We always just assumed something had happened and they'd been forced to scatter; the Ark wasn't in the best condition last I saw it."

"So what, this ship is the first sign in…?" Miko trailed off.

"Nearly ten years," Ratchet answered, skidding to a stop.

The ambulance's doors opened and both humans clambered out, glancing around the area. They still appeared to be deep in some woods likely in the middle of nowhere, but there was a large clearing in front of them, _probably_ caused by the smoking chunk of spaceship in the middle of it.

Ratchet transformed, blasters at the ready, and ordered the children to follow along behind him_ just in case_. They'd been fooled before, and if the Ark really was no longer functioning, it wouldn't be that difficult for Decepticons to get their hands on one of the transport ships. Not to mention the fact that even if the occupants _were_ Autobots, _something_ had caused the ship to crash.

Edging forward cautiously, Ratchet moved to where he knew the exit hatch to be, banging a fist on it. "Hello?" He called out loudly, staring confusedly when the door moved, obviously having already been pried open. The next thing Ratchet knew, there was a flash of silver and he ended up face-first on the ground, a blaster to the back of his head and a small weight on his back. He waved a hand dismissively at Miko as he heard her pull out the Apex Armour.

"Jazz."

"Ratchet."

"Ratchet?" Both humans chorused, very much unsure of whether this small silver bot was an enemy or not. At least until he jumped up and off their friend, grinning cheerily as he helped haul Ratchet to his feet, clearly knowing who he was and still not at all sorry.

"This is Jazz, head of the Autobots' Special Operations Unit and all around pain in the neck," Ratchet informed the humans dryly, sending a glare at his comrade.

"You forgot to mention my charm and good looks," Jazz threw out there, already looking distracted as he glanced back into the ship. "But no seriously, I'm glad it's you Ratch. I got some of your favourite old patients for ya."

* * *

Ratchet wasn't especially surprised to find one of the 'favourite old patients' to be Sideswipe; he and Jazz were usually around each other in some way or another. Fireflight however was a different story; while she _was_ friends with Sides, it was rare for her to be far from her own teammates if she could help it. Frowning, he leaned against the medical table the femme was resting on, staring at her thoughtfully as she recharged.

Sideswipe however was already awake and causing trouble from his medical bed where he was stuck as both his legs were damaged enough he couldn't walk. He very much enjoyed the attention he was receiving from an over-excited Miko and was bragging away about his flying and fighting capabilities. At least until Miko pointed over to 'Flight and Ratchet, asking; "What's the deal with them? I don't think I've ever seen Ratchet so…_gentle_ with a bot."

"Isn't it obvious?" Sideswipe replied with a mischievous grin. "She's his long-lost, what do you organics call it? Offsping?"

Oh here we go. Ratchet groaned and rubbed at his temples in annoyance, while Jazz simply looked amused from where he was leaning against the doorway. Miko's eyes grew wide and she turned to the medic, shouting; "_What_!? I thought- you said- you guys can have _babies_!? How does that even work!? I mean-"

"I am _not_ fixing your legs," Ratchet informed Sideswipe flatly, "You can remain a cripple for the rest of your life."

Sideswipe pretended to pout, the effect lessened by his still-present grin. "Aw come on Ratch, _I_ thought it was funny. And you gotta admit, you do baby her and her brothers a lot."

"_Brothers_!? How many kids do you _have_!?" Miko exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Well between them and the other combiner team-" Sideswipe began, only to be cut off by Jazz.

"Ratch doesn't have any kids, Siders here is just screwin' with ya," He informed the little human, giving his subordinate a warning look. Sideswipe knew very well that this was a sore topic for the medic. The humans however, simply looked confused.

"What's a combiner team?" Jack asked curiously, ignoring the rest of the conversation. Ratchet had already explained how new Cybertronians were created; he couldn't believe Miko had fallen for that at all. This last part seemed interesting though.

"A dangerous experiment that should never have gone ahead." Ratchet replied sharply, focusing his attention on the unconscious bot and fussing unnecessarily over a few dents in her head. "Decepticon scientists were stupid enough to link a group of bots together and allow them to combine into a larger, much more powerful bot. They never thought about how having five or more conflicting personalities in the one body would affect the bots; leaving all of them unstable and dangerous."

"So Fireflight's a Decepticon experiment then?"

"No. Autobot scientists got their hands on the tech eventually and were convinced they could do better. We now have two teams of five that are heavily emotionally reliant on each other, have incredibly unstable personalities, and combine into mindless destruction machines."

"Oh," Was all Jack had to say. To him the basic idea sounded rather cool, and despite the amount of time he'd spent around Cybertronians, he just couldn't fathom what that kind of connection would be like. Ratchet seemed awfully bitter over the whole thing though and very protective over the little flyer. "So where are her brothers now then?"

"The 'Cons attacked a small group of us and forced us to scatter," Jazz replied grimly, stepping forward. "'Flight ended up with me and Siders, but we think one or two of the others may have been captured. 'Flight's team were the only thing keepin' us in the game, we were outnumbered so badly. Seekers were pretty determined to take 'em out; chased us all the way to this galaxy."

"Maybe I will fix your legs then," Ratchet muttered to Sideswipe thoughtfully. "If we go looking for them, I'd rather not have Jazz crash us again."

"To be fair, he crashed Flight and _then_ the ship," Sideswipe added unhelpfully, pointing at his superior as he dobbed him in and Ratchet turned a death glare on the little ninja. "Also, no offence Ratch, but I doubt you and your little squishies are going to make much of a difference, and that ship is _way_ beyond repair."

As Jazz proceeded to flee both the scene and Ratchet's wrath, the medic turned a knowing smile on the red pilot. Clearly he knew something they didn't.

"What?"

* * *

**Next Episode - Cybertron**  
As the reconstruction of Cybertron continues, Ultra Magnus is having a few...issues.

* * *

_Thanks for the favourites and reviews on the first chapter, feedback is always appreciated very much! _

~Saani


	3. Cybertron (Part 1)

**Cybertron (Part 1)**

* * *

"Cybertron's restored and in the process of being rebuilt."

Sideswipe blinked and stared over at Ratchet, who simply leaned against 'Flight's table looking rather smug actually. A disbelieving grin eventually crossed the pilot's face and he shook his head. "Are you serious? How the frag did you manage that!? Is that where Prime and the other two we sent with you guys are?"

"Yes I'm serious, long story, and yes and no." Ratchet answered his questions in turn, looking a little uncomfortable at the third one.

Sideswipe raised an eye-ridge at that, resting his hands behind his head and leaning back against the wall. "I've got time; I'm apparently a cripple for the foreseeable future, so get to explaining already!"

"I'd prefer to wait for Fireflight to wake up and Jazz to return so I don't have to explain everything multiple times." Ratchet argued stubbornly.

The pilot snorted and waved a hand dismissively. "Jazz is hovering around just outside the doorway as usual, and we both know 'Flight would space out two minutes in. I'll give her a short version when she finally decides to join us."

Huffing, the medic gave in and nodded. "Let me see, where to start… Well, we arrived on Earth nearly ten years ago as you know; Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and I. We ended up allied with the United States Government and remained hidden for a couple of years.

"Eventually we were joined by Arcee and Cliffjumper; they somehow managed to get past Shockwave and use his space bridge to get here and warn us that the Cons had found us and were on their way-"

"Wait, Arcee's here!?" Sideswipe interrupted loudly, sitting up suddenly. "She's still alive?"

The medic rolled his eyes in annoyance; "Yes, yes, she's fine. Shut up already or I won't continue."

The younger Autobot did as told and shut his mouth reluctantly, doing a rather good impression of a pout.

"The Cons arrived and we fought them off for maybe a year before they seemed to vanish again. Everything was quiet for another two years until Megatron returned and all hell broke loose. We lost Cliffjumper very early on; Starscream got him and Arcee's never really gotten over it. We then accidentally involved three human children; Jack and Miko here and a third named Raf. Optimus assigned them each guardians and they joined us in keeping our secret and fighting off the Decepticons."

"Arcee's my guardian," Jack chipped in with a smile. "I'm guessing you guys are old friends or something? Miko got Bulkhead, and Raf Bumblebee."

Sideswipe nodded; "Yeah, Cee was part of mine and Jazz's unit, CJ too. Kinda sucks to hear he's gone, no matter how annoying he was. I mean, we didn't have high hopes for them when they forced us to leave them on Cybertron, but still. At least Cee's still around, and little Bee too."

"Bumblebee was one of yours too?" Jack questioned curiously, tilting his head. "What exactly did your unit do?"

"Sometimes. Bee mostly hung around Prime, but he was a good friend to most of us and would assist whenever Jazz asked." Sideswipe replied with a shrug. "And Spec Ops mostly handled stealth missions; information gathering, assassination, sabotage, that kind of thing."

"That's awesome!" Miko exclaimed excitedly, jabbing a fist in the air. "You're like an entire team of ninja!"

"No, only four of us were trained ninja; although I think Blue and CJ picked up some of the training over the years." Sides said thoughtfully, glancing up at the ceiling and missing the dumbfounded look on the little human's face.

"Wait, _what_?"

"Cyberninja are an actual thing on Cybertron," Ratchet explained tiredly. "Ops was built from a small squad of them including Jazz and Arcee. You've seen her fight plenty of times; she uses a combination of a couple different martial arts."

"Mostly Metallikato last time I saw her. That's why she has those arm-blades." Sideswipe added with a nod.

"_Anyway_," Ratchet interrupted loudly, wanting to get on with his explanation before Miko began babbling once again. "Megatron had brought back Dark Energon with him, so there was a minor incident with Cliffjumper returning from the dead as a mindless monster, but after that it mostly became the usual back and forth we've seen throughout the war. Knock Out and Breakdown showed up, so did Airachnid, and a Seeker named Dreadwing. Our side only got Wheeljack, if he even counted back then."

Sideswipe made faces at the first two names, rather familiar with them both, but the third earned a pained wince. Airachnid was a nasty piece of work; a creepy spider-like Decepticon. She'd been behind the death of Tailgate, another of their teammates and Arcee's first partner, something that had fractured their unit rather badly. Wheeljack was interesting news though; he was a Wrecker from memory, like Bulkhead, another specialized team that Ops considered rivals.

"At the moment, Airachnid is missing; we've seen no sign of her in five years. Breakdown and Dreadwing are both dead though, and Knock Out has joined the Autobots." Ratchet continued on, making a face of his own at the last part. Knock Out was a shiny red sports car with a massive ego and for some reason way beyond Ratchet, medical training. He had jumped sides at the end of the war basically to save his own finish, and was now working as the Cybertron Team's medic.

"Oh _frag_," Sideswipe swore, rolling his optics. He'd met Knock Out many times in the past as well and was not at all fond of the vain car. He reminded him a _little_ too much of someone he'd been trying very hard to forget.

"There was also an incident with Unicron, turns out he's the core of Earth, but we handled that. Optimus ended up brainwashed and joined the Decepticons for a while too, but we handled that as well." Ratchet stated, rubbing his chin as he tried to remember. "Then we got our hands on the Iacon Database, it helped us track down a number of weapons and relics that had been sent to Earth."

"Wondered why the human had her hands on Cybertronian tech," Sides input, looking down at Miko and the large disk seated beside her that activated her armour.

"Smokescreen arrived around then, you'll get to meet him soon as he's due any day to visit." The medic continued. "Annoying little kid, you'll probably like him. Arcee does, even if she'll never admit it."

Sideswipe snickered at that and fell silent again as Ratchet went on. "The last four relics turned out to be the Omega Keys; keys capable of regenerating Cybertron. There was also the Forge of Solus Prime which we used to build a space bridge and get to Cybertron. There was a big fuss back home and in the end, we lost. Optimus was forced to destroy the Omega lock on Cybertron when Megatron tried to use it and his own space bridge to reform Earth. Our base was destroyed in the process and we scattered.

"Then, Shockwave returned from Cybertron and we had to deal with him and his new pet Predaking."

"Big, fire-breathing, metal dragon," Miko threw out there, just a _little_ too gleefully. "It was kinda awesome. Except for the whole trying to kill us part."

"Optimus got an upgrade from the Forge, which used up the last of its power, and learned to fly and destroy…well possibly to your team's standards." Ratchet stated dryly, giving Sideswipe an amused look. "Ultra Magnus also showed up."

"Eww," The pilot complained. "Mr Walking Rulebook never liked our team much. So not looking forward to dealing with him."

"He currently has his hands full anyway," Ratchet informed him cryptically, before moving on. "The Cons basically built a new Omega Lock on their ship and captured me to help them finish it. They were trying to use the synthetic energon I'd been working on since our reserves had first gotten low. I finished it and with our new firepower, we actually took over the ship and won."

"So where are the Cons now?" Sideswipe asked, grinning rather proudly. It sucked that he hadn't been present to kick some can of his own, but he was still proud of what his fellow Autobots had managed to achieve.

"Bumblebee was knocked into the active Omega Lock, which brought him back fully repaired," Ratchet replied with a fond smile. Bumblebee had lost his voice very early in the war and been forced to communicate entirely through beeps and whistles as Ratchet had been unable to repair him fully. To hear the little scout's voice again was practically music to the medic's audios. "He then killed Megatron."

"No way! Our baby Bee?" Sideswipe exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "That is so awesome. Wait til the others hear about this…"

"We took out Soundwave, left him trapped in another dimension!" Miko bragged, truthfully enough. "Starscream and Shockwave ran away like the wimps they are."

"We haven't heard from either of those two since, but Megatron did come back, possessed by Unicron. We managed to banish Unicron, trap him in the container that held the All-Spark."

"So you found it then? The All-Spark?" Jazz's voice came from the doorway. The All-Spark was the life-force of Cybertron; it powered the Well of the All-Sparks and allowed the planet to create new Cybertronians. The Autobots had been forced to jettison it off into space to keep it from Decepticon hands during the war. Both sides had been searching for it ever since.

"Yes. We've returned it to the Well." Ratchet replied, glancing down at the floor. "Unfortunately, it also needed the Matrix to begin making new lives again. Optimus chose to sacrifice himself."

The Matrix of Leadership was a mythical device given to one of those chosen as Prime, leaders of the planet. Its power was well beyond anyone's knowledge, but it was known to contain the voice of Primus, the core of Cybertron and generally regarded as their god, and help guide those that carried it. Optimus had been the last Prime, and the last one to wield it. He'd been an amazing and compassionate leader to the Autobots and a good friend to most of them as well; his loss was a hard hit.

"So he's gone then." Jazz mumbled softly, both he and Sideswipe sharing a sad look. Jazz had been close friends with the Prime for as long as anyone could remember.

Ratchet, well aware of this, nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry."

The small ninja was silent for a moment before seeming to pull himself together. "Ah well, least he went out protectin' future generations, it's exactly how he would've liked to go. So we've got new bots on Cybertron then huh?"

"Not yet," Ratchet replied with a shake of his head. "The Well's needed time to recharge. We expect it to be finished anytime now."

"So we'll get to be around to see a new generation then? I never thought I'd see the day." Jazz smiled brightly, wandering over to Ratchet to elbow him less-than-gently. "So, when do we get to go home?"

* * *

Jazz glanced around in awe as he exited the space bridge portal into the centre of a small town. The construction was a lot further along than he'd thought was possible; with nearly two dozen full-sized metal buildings scattering the area, each one very clearly carefully planned and built. A number of paved roads weaved through the area, a large metal wall surrounding the collection of buildings, with only one gate leading out into the area beyond. There weren't very many defences that he could immediately see, but judging by the massive, red, gold, black and grey metal Pteranodon circling the air, they probably weren't needed.

"The Dinobots are here?" He questioned in surprise, spotting an Apatosaurus with similar colouring assisting a team of bots that were currently at work on a nearby building.

"Unfortunately for Ultra Magnus, yes." Ratchet replied dryly. "They've been on Cybertron all along, gathering up survivors and doing what they could to keep them together. They're the reason we have as many bots here as we do, and Grimlock won't stop reminding Magnus of it."

The Dinobots were reasonably self-explanatory; a team of five large Autobots capable of transforming into dinosaur-based forms instead of vehicles. Like Predaking, the dragon Miko had mentioned earlier, they were experiments of the Decepticon Shockwave. _Unlike_ Predaking however, they weren't created from fossils, but dangerous procedures performed on already-living bots. As such, they were quite powerful, but also considered very dangerous and unstable, particularly whenever their tormentor was brought up.

The Pteranodon, Swoop, let out a loud squawk and circled down towards them, transforming a few metres above the ground. He was the smallest of the Dinobots, but even then he was at least twice Jazz's size as he stood to his full height and smiled down cheerfully at the ninja. "About time we saw some old familiar faces. You know; faces Grim doesn't want to punch in."

Jazz chuckled at that and nodded. Grimlock was the leader of the Dinobots, entirely because he was the most powerful. Considering his alternate mode, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, was tied to his rage, he had a lot of anger issues and was highly irritable.

"Where is Ultra Magnus?" Ratchet asked briskly, "I obviously have news for him."

"Commander Spoilsport? Last I saw, chewing out Smokescreen and Knock Out in his office." Swoop replied with a shrug.

Ratchet groaned and rubbed at his temples. Ultra Magnus was…strict to say the least. He was incredibly by the book and came down hard on anyone that broke even the tiniest of rules. Bots in trouble with him had a tendency to come complaining to Ratchet when the Commander was being particularly unfair. "What did they do this time?"

"Just some harmless racing around the outer wall, not like anyone got hurt, and it _was_ during their off-duty hours."

How Ratchet hated sports cars! They were always up to scrap like this; unable to contain their energy and egos. "Gah! Suppose I'd better go handle this before everyone comes crying to me. Swoop; can you give Jazz a tour?"

"Sure thing!" The Dinobot squawked cheerily, waving goodbye as the medic stalked off towards the largest building, the current Command Centre. Staring down at the little ninja, the bot gestured for Jazz to follow. "We're calling the place New Iacon for now, since its architecture is the one Bulkhead's using at the moment. He's mostly in charge of planning and building by the way."

Jazz smiled and fell into step beside the Pteranodon. Iacon had been one of the last cities to fall during the war, and had been home to the Autobots' main base; he definitely approved. He hadn't been aware of the large green Wrecker's building talents before now, but it was clear he was a natural and was getting the job done to a very high standard. Jazz could spot nothing wrong with any of the buildings in his immediate sight.

Swoop proceeded to point out buildings as they passed them; living quarters, the energon refinery, the med bay. It seemed they had all the basics up and running now. Bots scattered the area, most of them at work. It wasn't anywhere near the numbers Jazz remembered back before the war, even in the smallest of towns, but it was more than he'd seen in a very long time. The fact that a number of them weren't armed and were talking and joking about was what made him the most happy. All that fighting really had been for something.

They stopped by the biggest building, built into the outer wall, with its own entrance to the outside world. "This is the hanger. We're working on getting more ships up and running so we can bring more survivors back here." Swoop explained, gesturing for Jazz to head inside.

Inside were three transport ships, all quite similar to the one he'd crashed only a few hours earlier. At work on one of them was a white bot with green and red markings, and odd-looking grey protrusions on either side of his head; Wheeljack. Beside him, and looking thoroughly amused, was a petite blue femme with traces of pink. She glanced up when she heard them enter, optics lighting up in recognition.

"Jazz!" She exclaimed, ignoring Wheeljack when her sudden movement startled him and caused him to thump his head, and hurrying over.

"Arcee," Jazz greeted with a wide grin, accepting the quick hug she gave him and fond punch on his arm.

"When did you get here? How? What about the others?" She rattled off questions, seeming a lot happier than he remembered seeing her last. Of course that had been not too long after the whole Tailgate Incident, so it wasn't all that surprising.

"Crashed on Earth 'bout ten hours ago; me Siders and Fireflight." Jazz replied quickly, taking note of the way she hesitated at Sideswipe's name. "Dunno where the rest of the team, or Flight's for that matter, are at the moment, but last we saw, they were still kickin'."

She seemed relieved to hear that, before her face fell and she glanced down at the ground. "Speaking of the team, there's something you should know…"

"Ratch already told us about Cliff, it's alright Cee." Jazz replied quietly, looking over at Wheeljack as he wandered over. "Besides, looks like you've found someone new huh?"

Arcee groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Jazz, I swear, do _not_ start that again. We're just friends okay?"

"Yeah, she's got her optics set on someone a lot stupider," Wheeljack input with a sneaky grin, attempting to wipe some of the grease of his face with an old rag.

"Oh really? Do tell!" Jazz snickered, while Arcee proceeded to grumble to herself and hide behind an amused looking Swoop.

"You want to trade Commanders?" She asked the Dinobot flatly. "I think mine's defective."

"I'm good thanks," Swoop squawked cheerfully, lightly patting the femme on the head. "Besides, I think Ratchet's planning on taking you back with him a bit early for your Squishy Visit, so you might want to go get ready."

"I really wish you all would stop calling it that," The femme grumbled to herself, nodding and heading out of the hanger with a half-hearted wave to Jazz and Wheeljack.

Jazz spent the next short while wandering around the new base and greeting as many bots as he came across, some old friends, others new bots he'd never met before. He looked forward to getting the chance to make a new life here, but first he had to get back to his teammates on Earth, and find the rest of their friends still out in space. In a good mood now, he said farewell to Swoop and headed back to the Command Centre to find Ratchet again.

* * *

_This chapter ended up a lot larger than I thought it would be. I've been trying to keep them all around the same size, but that's proving harder than I thought it would be, especially with all the info-dumping. Hopefully that stops soon lol. Next chapter's in the works and the next two after that are already completed, so updates should be quick._

_I hope people are enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. As always, feedback is appreciated.  
~Saani_


	4. Cybertron (Part 2)

**Cybertron (Part 2)**

* * *

Jazz wandered into the Command Centre, following the helpful signs that lead him straight to Ultra Magnus' office. Not that he'd really needed the signs what with all the angry yelling and ranting he could hear. Wondering what was going on, he cautiously stuck his head inside the office, only to find himself immediately met with two pairs of rather wary looking optics, one blue, and one red.

Both bots clearly transformed into sports cars, the first a dark blue with hints of yellow, and large 38s printed on both door-wings. The second was a bright, shiny red with tires on the backs of his shoulders instead. So this was most likely Smokescreen and Knock Out then.

Wandering further inside, Jazz learned the source of their discomfort; a large red and blue commanding figure with enough tires that he probably turned into some kind of truck, and what appeared to be an artificial hand, was having a…_minor_ disagreement with an _extremely_ large and very _angry_ Tyrannosaurus. Ah, Ultra Magnus and Grimlock, long time, no see.

Ratchet was hovering off to the side, looking like he'd tried to intervene and then given up; probably around the time transformations and the possibility of _fire-breathing_ got involved. Very few bots pissed off a Dinobot and came out of it un-fried. Although, Ultra Magnus appeared to be doing reasonably well so far.

"What's their problem this time?" Jazz whispered, flopping down into a chair beside Ratchet, resting his feet over one of the sides.

"The usual, Magnus is Base Commander and Grimlock doesn't like it," Ratchet replied with a heavy sigh. "He probably gave some order to one of Grimlock's little followers that they didn't like and they complained. Wouldn't be the first time."

"Who exactly put Magnus in charge? Can't Grim just take it up with them?"

"That's the problem. No one really did, he was just the highest ranked around at the time."

"Oh goodie."

"With Optimus gone, issues like this have been far too common." Ratchet added. "It is getting really old. I want it sorted before we have to throw the new generation into this mess as well."

The pointed look Ratchet gave Jazz clearly meant he expected the smaller bot to do something about this. Technically he and Magnus were of the same rank; both having commanded special divisions outside of the usual chain of command; both had only ever had to answer to Optimus, and perhaps Ratchet if medical issues were involved.

Shoving that to the back of his mind and pretending to ignore Ratchet, Jazz instead jabbed a finger in the racers' direction. "Speakin' of younglings, whatcha gonna do about those two?"

"Grimlock stormed in about halfway through their lecture on 'Appropriate Behaviour for Soliders'." Ratchet replied dryly, looking more amused than anything else. "Smokescreen will be coming back to Earth with us; Knock Out however is on his own."

Twenty minutes later, the discussion ended mostly as predicted, with Ultra Magnus slightly on fire and Grimlock making his exit through a fresh hole in the wall, probably to go continue ranting to his poor teammates. Bulkhead wasn't going to be happy; this was the second time this week one of his precious buildings had fallen victim to the bot.

Shaking his head, Ratchet gathered up the bots he was returning to Earth with and let Knock Out go. He'd just submit a written report later when Magnus was uh…feeling better.

* * *

Knock Out was out of that office in an instant, transforming the moment he got outside and driving back towards his med bay. Honestly, that Ultra Magnus was such a pain in his bumper! It had just been a little race; it wasn't going to hurt anyone. Well, other than maybe Smokescreen's ego, but in his oh-so-humble opinion, that could stand to be brought down a few pegs. The Autobot racecar had no reason to be so big-headed all the time; it wasn't like he was half as gorgeous as Knock Out was.

And that Grimlock! While Knock Out was happy for the interruption, he didn't have to barge in quite so rudely, nor did he have to yell so much. Did dinosaurs not come with indoor voices or something? Not that the sports car was going to say anything to the larger bot's face, he'd seen more than enough of that horrible dinosaur-mode today, thank you very much.

Huffing to himself, the shiny sports car transformed back to his root mode and wandered inside his building, carefully inspecting the gleam on his arms to make sure it was _just right_. He had been a little worried that he'd wrecked it when he and Smokescreen had practically flown out of the chairs at Grimlock's interruption. Not that he'd jumped at the other bot in fright or anything. No, that would be _weird_. Smokescreen was an Autobot and an idiotic one at that.

Knock Out was so preoccupied with himself and his thoughts that he didn't notice a second presence in the room, at least not until it growled lowly at him. Seriously, who _does_ that? Oh.

Spark still racing the bot placed a hand on his chest and shook his head. "Honestly, you gave me such a fright. What're _you_ doing creeping around here anyway?"

His 'visitor' was a small black metallic panther; well small to him at least, it was approximately the same size as Earth's versions of the animal would be. The cat was perched on top of one of the shelves containing his medical supplies, mostly hidden in the shadows, only its bright red eyes showing clearly. Carefully, it dropped down, peering around the room cautiously before staring up at Knock Out.

'_I need your help with something._' A calm, smooth voice echoed in Knock Out's head; the cat speaking to him telepathically.

"And what makes you think I'm going to do that?" Knock Out replied, picking at his claws uninterestedly. "In case you haven't heard, I'm not a Decepticon anymore, _Ravage_."

_'I'm not asking as a Decepticon, I'm asking as a friend_.' The cat tried instead, optics never blinking as it continued to stare. '_And on a mutual friend's behalf_.'

"Oh?" Now that was kind of interesting, it couldn't hurt to hear the cat out now could it? Much?

Ravage was a minicon, one of multiple little minions belonging to another Decepticon; Soundwave. They were obnoxious little creatures used almost entirely for spying purposes, including within their own faction. Last Knock Out heard, there were only four of them left and three had been given out to other Decepticons, allowing them to remain in contact via the minicons' telepathy and giving them an advantage over the wandered and scattered Autobots. The last one, Laserbeak, had gone way out of range of the others; to Earth with their master, and both been defeated by the Autobots, the details of which no one had wanted to share with Knock Out. Not that he really cared; Soundwave was kind of creepy.

Whatever Ravage wanted him to do was going to cause trouble, there was no doubt about it, but if Knock Out remembered correctly, the panther had been left with his fellow Decepticon cars… "Which _friend_ is that exactly?"

_'Dead End.'_

Oh Frag. Knock Out had had only one _real_ friend throughout the war, his loyal partner and protector Breakdown. Unfortunately, Breakdown had been killed years back by Airachnid, that horrible wretch, leaving Knock Out to deal with the consequences. Including Breakdown's being used as a puppet by a human, and then reanimated as some kind of zombie vampire. Admittedly, he'd had a little bit to do with that last one, but still. All things aside, he did actually give a scrap about Breakdown, and by association, his siblings.

Breakdown was a combiner, one of five bots capable of combining into a larger, more powerful bot, in this case one named Menasor. His team's leader had been killed early on in the war entirely to remove Menasor from combat, causing the rest of the team to scatter, Breakdown ending up with Knock Out. If Dead End was here asking favours, it was because she knew Breakdown was dead and she was going to try and guilt him into something.

And it was probably going to work.

"What does she want?" Knock Out asked wearily, carefully seating himself on one of the medical tables, always mindful of his paintjob.

_'Nothing much, just a space bridge to Earth.' _Ravage replied evasively. _'And of course a little…silence on your behalf. Perhaps some help blocking our signals as well.'_

"Are you kidding me? Do you have _any_ idea how much effort that would be and how much scrap _I'd_ have to deal with if you idiots got caught?" Knock Out exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically. "They have _Dinobots_ here. I rather enjoy _not being fried to a crisp_ thank you!"

'_Then I suppose you'll have to be extra careful won't you?_' Ravage stated smugly. _'I'll be back in an hour at the hanger with both the other two. You had better be ready.'_

Rolling his eyes and huffing to himself, Knock Out began to wrack his processor for any way he could make this work. As much as the Autobots would be against it, it really couldn't hurt much could it?

"Wait, other _two_?"

* * *

Knock Out fidgeted as he waited just inside the hanger, glancing around constantly; afraid he was going to get caught. Arcee had just left for Earth, and Wheeljack was apparently helping Bulkhead with something (probably the new Grimlock-shaped hole in the Command Centre), so the building was empty for the moment, but he had no idea how long that would last. He also had to somehow sneak three bots from this building into the next one without anyone noticing; in particular their fire-breathing eye-in-the-sky Swoop.

A quiet knock sounded on the hanger's outer door and Knock Out quickly moved to open it, familiar enough with the security system to keep it from alerting anyone. He had after all, been a part of designing and building the system. Ravage stalked inside, followed by a black and dark grey femme. She was similar in build to Arcee, only blockier and taller as she clearly turned into a car of some kind. She had a completely disinterested look on her face as she glanced around the hanger. Behind her followed a second bot, this one male and larger than Knock Out. He was mostly a bright gold colour with black around-

"Oh frag no!" Knock Out hissed upon recognising the last bot. "Are you kidding me? His _brother_ just arrived on Earth and you think I'm going to send _him_ there!?"

That seemed to catch the bot's interest, his red eyes narrowing in thought. Ravage however, couldn't have cared less. _'Just move it Knock Out, we don't have all day.'_

Absolutely positive now that this was going to come back and bite him in the tailpipe, Knock Out groaned and headed to the exit, once again looking around suspiciously. It seemed Swoop had been called away, likely to assist in calming down Grimlock. Sludge, the Apatosaurus, was never any help with that, and the other two, Slug and Snarl (a Triceratops and Stegosaurs respectively), had flat out refused to be involved the next time, instead quite happy to allow Grimlock to decimate whoever he pleased.

Thanking his lucky stars, Knock Out hurried on to the next building, gesturing wildly for the three Cons to keep up with him. Once they were safely inside, the door shut and locked behind them, he sighed in relief, a habit he may or may not have picked up from humans. Ignoring the odd looks he received from the Decepticons, he turned his attention to the Space Bridge's control panel and found Ratchet's group had only recently left. Slightly altering those coordinates would be easy, and would drop these Cons off nearby enough that the Autobots could react if they tried something stupid, but not close enough for them to locate the base.

Activating the bridge, he watched as all three Cons went through without even so much as a thank you. Honestly! He was so much better off with the Autobots now; he just hoped no one learned of his part in this. If he was really, _really_ lucky, perhaps they were just going to Earth to scan some pretty looking cars. Yeah, that had to be it.

Dusting his hands of the matter, Knock Out wandered back outside, only to be tracked down by Bumblebee less than a minute later, to handle repairs on the now-extinguished Ultra Magnus.

* * *

Ratchet's team returned to Earth, none-the-wiser about the Decepticons that had bridged nearby mere minutes later. Smokescreen and Jazz were chatting cheerily between them, Arcee mostly looking almost anxious about something. Of course when Smokes bothered to inquire as to what, she merely snapped at him and reverted back to the cranky, withdrawn Arcee they'd hoped was long-gone. So she still wasn't over _it_ then.

Reluctantly, she followed after the others as they headed to the medical bay to check up on Fireflight and Sideswipe. 'Flight had apparently woken up long enough to have some kind of mental breakdown before collapsing again, now shivering and clinging to a concerned-looking Sideswipe's arm. Somehow he'd managed to make it over to her table despite his legs still being useless.

"I don't even want to know," Ratchet muttered, shaking his head at the red bot and hurrying over to check on the flier. "What happened?"

"Nothing, she just sort of woke up," Sideswipe replied quietly. "She's been doing this on and off since- well since she got separated from her brothers. She just kinda clings to one of us for a while, and then when she wakes up she's back to normal."

Ratchet huffed and rubbed at the flyer's wings, trying to calm her down. So this was the result of being separated from her brothers. It had never happened before, but the Aerialbots were widely considered one of the more unstable combiners, so it wasn't unexpected. He supposed they'd have to get out there and search for her siblings sooner rather than later.

Glancing over at Sideswipe to order him back to his own medical table so he could start work on his legs, he found the red bot had finally spotted Arcee.

"Arcee?" Sideswipe said quietly, smiling over at her, just glad to see for himself that she was still alive and in one piece.

Apparently the sentiment wasn't returned, as the blue femme looked at him for maybe a moment before shaking her head and rushing out of the room.

* * *

**Next Episode: Reunion**  
_Arcee and Sideswipe reunite, and someone from their past returns._

* * *

_Not much to say this time around other than I hope people are enjoying reading this. Please, favourite, review, throw rocks, whatever you like, and let me know what you think._

_~Saani_


	5. Reunion (Part 1)

**Reunion (Part 1) **

* * *

"What was that all about?" Smokescreen asked curiously, staring after Arcee a moment. "Guys?"

Ratchet muttered something about old grudges and returned his focus to Fireflight, while Sideswipe and Jazz shared a glance, ending with Jazz huffing and trailing out after Arcee. "Don't worry about it," Sideswipe assured the younger bot, plastering his usual grin across his face, "This is kind of normal."

Smokes blinked, now very confused, but he let the subject drop, figuring he could pester Jazz or even Arcee herself for information, maybe even Jack if it came down to it. She had a very hard time saying no to her human charge after all. Deciding to at least make himself useful, he offered to assist Sideswipe in getting back to his own medical table, which the red bot accepted.

Once settled again, Sideswipe fell silent, leaving Smokescreen to hover around awkwardly. It was clear he was the odd one out here, yet _again_. He'd arrived on Earth mid-way through the search for the Iacon Relics, joining an already tight-knit team of bots that he'd never met before. You'd think he'd be used to it by now, but after the five years he'd spent getting to know everyone and finding his own place, it _was_ a bit of a slap to the face.

"Do you maybe need any help Ratchet?" The dark blue bot asked the medic hopefully, only to be shut down with a curt 'no' and then ignored. Well alright then. Guess that left Sideswipe.

"So umm… you and Jazz were Arcee's teammates right? Back during the war?" He tried cheerfully. "You must have some great stories huh?"

"Yeah, heaps." Came the red bot's distracted response.

Well this was just great. Just as Smokescreen began racking his processor for any kind of excuse to bail on the awkward situation, Ratchet finally succeeded in waking the last member of the new team. Smokescreen's oh-so-subtle exit was interrupted by a frightened squeak and Ratchet ending up face-to-barrel with a rather impressive-looking plasma cannon. He'd only briefly noticed the weapon lying alongside the flyer on her table, a few wires still connecting it to her; they must've allowed her to still control it, as she'd reconfigured it to rest upon her left arm.

"Ratchet!"

"'Flight!"

Both Smokescreen and Sideswipe called out and moved to intervene simultaneously. Unfortunately in Sideswipe's case, that ended with him face first on the floor.

"Oh good going," Ratchet grumbled down at the red bot, calmly moving Fireflight's arm away from his face. "And _you_ relax already. You're among friends."

Obediently, the jet carefully lowered her arm, the cannon reconfiguring itself onto her back above her folded down wings with the same sound most bots made when transforming. She glanced around the med bay cautiously for a few moments, eyeing everyone warily. At least until a bright smile crossed her face and she practically threw herself at the medic.

"Ratchet!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly in a hug. "When did you get here? Wait, where _is_ here?" Blinking, she glanced around again a moment, before spotting one of her teammates. "Oh, hi Siders. Whatcha doing down there?"

"Having a party," Came Sideswipe's muffled response. "You're not invited."

Smokescreen snickered in amusement and watched as Ratchet untangled himself from the femme and firmly placed her back down on her own table. "Stay," He ordered with a pointed finger, before hauling Sideswipe back up less-than-gently and beginning work on his legs immediately, probably entirely so he could kick him out sooner if Smokescreen knew the medic as well as he thought he did.

His laugh caught Fireflight's attention and she stared over at him curiously. It was kind of odd being stared at so intently, but the way she tilted her head and her wings flicked excitedly behind her managed to make her look more child-like than creepy. Actually, that was a very good way to describe almost everything about her; child-like. Especially the way her optics lit up when Ratchet glanced over at her and then Smokescreen.

"Do me a favour?" The medic asked, not even bothering to wait for an answer. "Keep Fireflight occupied for a while. I don't care what you do, just _do not_ let her out of your sight, got it?"

The sports car nodded in agreement a little warily, wondering why exactly a fully grown, flying _warrior_ needed babysitting. Shrugging it off, he gestured for her to follow, which she did eagerly enough. Maybe she'd just managed some internal damage to her processor or something and needed to be kept under observation?

"I'll give you a tour of the base?" He offered, completely missing Sideswipe and Ratchet's shared look as he and the little flyer left.

"That's just mean," Sideswipe commented with a grin. "Her own brothers can't keep track of her, and you think the new guy will be able to?"

"Around here, _you're_ the new guys," Ratchet pointed out, not looking up from the wires in the pilot's knee he was working on. "_He's_ been around for quite a while. Long enough to have annoyed me many, _many_ times."

* * *

Meanwhile, Arcee had wandered outside of the military base they were stationed on and into the nearby desert, having wanted some time to herself for a while. Unfortunately, she'd figured out very quickly that her nosy old commander didn't quite agree with that and was tailing her.

Sighing to herself, she turned around and glared at a nearby rock formation. "Jazz, what do you want?"

"My poor speakers functionin' again after that crash would be nice," Came the cheeky response, the small silver bot leaping out from behind the rocks, "But I'll settle for you an' I havin' a proper catch up."

"Can't we do this another time?" Arcee asked wearily, tilting her head and giving Jazz a pleading look. "I just want some space for a bit."

"What, so you can figure out the apology you owe Siders?" Jazz asked accusingly, flopping down on the ground and leaning back against his rock. "Sounds like a plan; I'll help."

Arcee gritted her jaw, glaring across the area at the other bot. How dare he! She hadn't done anything to her old friend, simply not wanted to speak to him. After all it was Sideswipe who-

As if reading her mind, Jazz interrupted her thoughts with a glare of his own. "For the last time Cee, he made a _mistake_, but it's not at all what you're holding against him. It's been centuries; don't ya think it's time to let this go?"

"No." The femme replied stubbornly, crossing her arms and looking away. "I-I can't."

"What if you'd been in his spot Cee? You and Tailgate, or even Cliff," Jazz reasoned softly. "You tryin' to tell me you wouldn't have done the exact same thing?"

"It's not the same- I just- Just drop it Jazz, okay?" Arcee demanded, clenching her fists.

The silver bot raised his arms in surrender, moving to get back to his feet. "Fine, fine. How 'bout a little spar then? You look like you could use a punchin' bag, and I'd like to see what you're capable of nowadays, yeah?"

The femme hesitated a moment before nodding in agreement. Despite the Dinobots, New Iacon was supposed to be kept violence-free, and most of her visits back to Earth were alongside Smokescreen so they could both visit Jack's family. No matter what the racecar claimed, she always felt she needed to hold back against the younger bot; it had been a long time since she'd been able to go to town on someone who could take it.

"Okay. Rules?" The femme asked, taking a step back into a defensive stance when Jazz immediately flipped back and rebounded off the rock formation, heading straight for her.

"Rules!" The silver ninja huffed, rolling back to his feet when Arcee dodged him, although only barely, and swung a leg out at her feet. "Since when did Ops have _rules_? You gettin' soft on us?"

Jumping over his feet and hand-springing a short distance away, Arcee smirked, unsheathing her fore-arm blades. "Why don't you come find out?"

* * *

Okay, _now_ Smokescreen was beginning to see why Fireflight needed a babysitter; he hadn't been far off the money with his thoughts about her practically being a kid. Their Earth base was built into an empty aircraft hangar and consisted of only a few rooms; the tour he'd offered shouldn't have taken more than twenty minutes, inside and outside included. The keyword there being '_shouldn't'_.

The little flyer was distracted by even the tiniest of things. He'd had to explain how the humans' television and video game collection worked, let her poke at and examine the couches, and open and close the refrigerator door _three times_ before he'd been able to drag her away from the tiny little corner the humans usually occupied. He wasn't even going to get _started_ on how long she'd spent in the main room where they tended to leave random objects all over the place.

Anything and everything was some mysterious wonder to Fireflight that most definitely had to be explored then and there. Which, funnily enough, was how he'd managed to…uh, let's go with _misplace_ her. Ratchet was going to kill him! Not that it was his fault really, he'd turned his back for all of two seconds and she'd completely vanished, although he still couldn't figure out _how _exactly. Her wings were still slightly bent out of whack and she was likely still running rather low on energy after spending so much time resting and recovering; there was no way she'd be able to transform and fly away, so where had she gone?

Very carefully avoiding the med bay, Smokescreen searched the base twice more over before giving up and deciding to head out and see if he could find Arcee. Perhaps she and Jazz would be willing to help him track down the missing femme and _not tell Ratchet_. It'd taken him five years to get from 'Annoying Rookie' to 'Constant Pain in the Rear Just Like Everyone Else' in Ratchet's optics, and he wasn't going to wreck that now!

Driving out to Arcee's usual spot, he was almost run down by the pair of ninja attacking one another. Skidding to a stop out of their way, he transformed, figuring it couldn't hurt to stop and watch a moment.

It was quite the sight, both bots moving at such high speeds, carefully blocking and dodging one another's blows and attempting to land their own on various weak points around the Cybertronian frame. It was clear that Jazz was holding back, his reactions were slightly slower than Arcee's, but much more precise. His movements were fluid and graceful, but also just a little off-balance, as though he wasn't doing them exactly correctly, but his own weird way.

Arcee's were sharper and lighter, her smaller frame giving her a bit of an edge. She put up a heckuva fight; _maybe_ she hadn't been completely full of it when she'd told Smokescreen she could kick his can any day.

The fight continued on for a few more minutes, looking more like some kind of dance than anything else, until Jazz went ahead and blocked a particular move and all but shoved Arcee hard in the stomach, knocking her to the ground at lightning speed. He grinned cheekily down at the femme as he offered her a hand up, Arcee accepting it with a fond roll of her optics.

"What's wrong Smokescreen?" She asked tiredly once she was back on her feet, inspecting herself for any permanent damage.

Well damn. Was he really that easy to read?

"Yes, yes you are. An' I only just met ya," Jazz informed the younger bot with a smirk after seeing the surprised look cross his face.

"That's really kind of creepy." Smokes commented, making a face. "Does he do this all the time?"

"Yep," Arcee replied, stretching out a muscle cable she'd pulled slightly in her side. "Had our youngest teammate Blue convinced he could read minds for years."

"Wasn't especially hard, kid practically plastered his thoughts 'cross his face," Jazz added cheerily. "Kinda like you. What's up?"

Ignoring that jab for now, Smokescreen glanced down at his feet, fidgeting slightly. "Well Ratchet asked me to watch Fireflight for a while and well…"

"Ya lost her."

"No!" Smokescreen argued quickly, throwing his hands up in defence. "I just…don't know exactly where she is…"

"So you lost her," Arcee repeated dryly, looking amused, "And now you're trying to find her before Ratchet finds out."

"Umm…well…yeah."

"You're aware they set ya up right?" Jazz asked with a chuckle. "'Flight does this all the time, even Ratch woulda lost her."

"What!?"

"He and Siders are probably sittin' in the med bay laughing atcha right now," The ninja added.

Rolling her optics and smiling fondly, Arcee punched the younger bot lightly in the arm. "Go pick up Jack for me and we'll find your Aerialbot alright? He called earlier to say he was bringing Leah along, and June will kill me if I let her ride anything without a child-seat again."

"Child-seat?" Jazz questioned curiously.

"Big clunky piece of foam they stick in my back seat," Smokescreen replied dully. "Lets the kid see out the window or something. All I know is it itches like nobody's business and transforming without taking it out sucks."

"Yeah, for Ratchet. He's the one that had to pick foam chunks out of your systems last time," Arcee retorted with a snicker.

"I still don't think he got them all," Smokescreen replied, rubbing at his chest. "I swear I can feel something rattling around in there."

Rolling her eyes once more, Arcee gestured for the racecar to shoo. "Get on with it; we'll go find 'Flight."

Not having to be told again, Smokescreen transformed and screeched away, calling back something that might have been a thank you as he drove off in the direction of the main road.

* * *

It didn't take either ninja very long to find Fireflight, and when they did, neither could help laughing slightly. She'd been in the med bay pretty much the whole time, curled up in a ball on Sideswipe's lap and in recharge, while he tried to figure out one of the over-sized, hand-held video games Raf had made for Bee that had been left at the Earth base. Her cannon was completely detached and resting on the ground beside the medical table.

Leaving them alone, both wandered off to chat to Ratchet, Arcee catching both up on what had been happening back on Cybertron recently.

A couple of hours passed before any of them realised that Smokescreen had yet to return with the humans. Slightly worried, Arcee used the comms. to contact their mother, only to find that _Sideswipe_ had apparently picked Jack and Leah up.

"What? But Sideswipe's right here…" Arcee muttered, frowning.

"He can't be," June replied; starting to sound panicked as well. "I mean, Jack was a little suspicious when he showed up with this new obnoxious yellow paint, apparently he's supposed to be red? But after asking him a few questions, he was positive it was him-"

"Sideswipe!" Arcee yelled in a sharp, very serious tone, cutting off the comms.

Said bot came running, although a little awkwardly with his legs still recovering, a sleepy looking Fireflight trailing behind him. "What-?"

"Your fragging brother is on Earth and he has the kids."

* * *

_Well TheCocconutSlinky, you did ask where he was... ;)_

_Thanks for the reviews and favourites and everything, it gives me warm fuzzy feelings to know people are reading this, even if it's just a comment on looking forward to the next chapter or such. Also, thanks to Vi for letting me babble away while I try to figure some characters out haha._

_~Saani_

_Edit: This chapter was edited because _someone_ fails at removing the trees when she changes a fight location to a desert area._


	6. Reunion (Part 2)

**Reunion (Part 2)**

* * *

Jack smiled to himself as he headed down the sidewalk, walking the few streets from the apartment he shared with Miko, and Raf when he was in town, to his parents' house. _Parents_. It was still weird to think of Fowler, no wait _Bill_ as he kept trying to get Jack to call him, as his step-father, but not in an especially bad way. It had been just Jack and his mother for most of his life; it was actually kind of nice to have a normal family now. Well, as normal as a family could get when they were friends with the Autobots. He doubted many toddlers had cranky old ambulances for 'grandpas'.

At first he'd been mortified when his mother and the former government agent had started dating, repeated teasing from Miko, Raf and even the bots had not helped _at all_, especially when they announced their engagement. He'd thought it had been too quick and just some kind of over-emotional reaction to having been involved in a giant alien war, but so far they'd proven him wrong. Both adults were happier than he'd ever seen them, especially now with little Leah.

As much as Jack teased Ratchet for spoiling the little girl, he knew he was much worse. He'd always wanted to be an older brother, and now that he was one as a young adult, he had the resources to spoil her rotten. Like today; she was leaving her playgroup early so he could take her to the base to see Arcee and Smokescreen for the first time in a month.

Both bots had acted as guardians towards Jack as long as they'd known him, treating him like a younger sibling even as he grew up. He supposed in their eyes, he was still a kid and probably always would be considering they lived for centuries. They'd both adapted well to the addition of Leah, pretty much assigning themselves as guardians for the little girl as well, Smokescreen more often entirely because June would not let her two-year-old daughter ride a motorcycle, no matter how good a driver Arcee insisted she was.

Jack had assumed she'd send Smokescreen along to get them today, since he'd called earlier to let her know he was bringing Leah along, so he was surprised to find a bright yellow car parked in his parents' driveway instead.

"Umm, hello?" He asked quietly, wondering if it was just a normal car and he was going to feel pretty stupid in a moment's time. Thankfully that wasn't the case and the car's engine started up quietly.

"Jack."

Recognising the voice, although it did sound a little off, perhaps a little lower? Jack greeted the bot with a pat on the hood. "Sideswipe? What's with…this?" He questioned, gesturing to the car in general.

It was some kind of custom model, extremely flashy and obviously very expensive. The bot must've spent ages looking for a car like this to scan for his vehicle mode, not to mention the repaint.

"Decided to get a native vehicle mode, what's the big deal?" The bot responded flatly.

"Uh, nothing, it's nice?" Jack offered weakly, cutting across the lawn to knock on the front door of the house. "What happened to the red though? I thought it kind of suited you."

"It was tacky; I should've changed it ages ago."

"Okay then."

Both males remained quiet a moment until Jack heard footsteps and voices from inside the house. It sounded as though Leah was pretty excited to go visit the bots and causing her mother trouble. The door opened and June smiled tiredly at her son, handing him a bright pink and purple backpack as well as the spare car-seat they kept beside the front door.

"Thanks for doing this Jack," She said gratefully, kissing her son on the cheek as Leah bolted outside to go ooh and ah at the new bot. "Umm, who's this?"

"Sideswipe I think," Jack replied, trying to glance past the items to see his sister and the car. "One of the new bots that just arrived; he's an old friend of Arcee's."

June frowned, not looking especially thrilled at letting either of her children get in a strange car. "You _think_? Jack…"

The young man sighed and headed over to the car, dumping the seat on the ground. "Look, Mom's being paranoid and just wants to be sure you really are a friend okay?" He told the bot wearily. "Umm, what's something only one of her team would know? Maybe where she got her blades?"

"They were a gift from Jazz when they left the dojo," 'Sideswipe' replied easily enough. "I was there when she got them."

June smiled tiredly and nodded, waving both her kids off. If Arcee trusted this bot, that was good enough for her. "Have fun you two! Don't bring her home too late! And stop letting Smokescreen give her so much chocolate!" She called after them as the bot reluctantly opened a door for Jack to install the car-seat.

"Relax," Jack told the bot, feeling the entire car fidget. "No matter what Smokes has told you, this thing isn't that bad. Speaking of, how come they sent you?"

"I offered?" Came the bot's dull response. He sounded almost irritable, like he was trying to hold it back. Mentally shrugging, Jack simply hurried up with the seat and then managed to catch his over-excited sister and strap her in before getting in the driver's seat himself.

"Bye!" Leah called out the window to her mother, waving cheerfully as the car pulled out of the driveway and sped off down the street.

It wasn't until they reached the end of the street and the car turned in the wrong direction that the steering wheel caught Jack's eye. In the middle of it in bright purple, was a Decepticon insignia.

* * *

Smokescreen groaned and opened his optics, struggling to take in his surroundings and try to remember what on Earth had happened to him. The last thing he could remember was…was… leaving the base? That's right, he was supposed to go pick up Jack and Leah. Jack and Leah! Scrambling into a sitting position, he frantically glanced around the wooded area he'd ended up in. There didn't seem to be any signs of the kids or that horrible car seat; he mustn't have ever made it to the house.

Leaning against a tree trunk, exhausted, Smokes tried to see out how much damage had been done, carefully inspecting his systems as best he could with his optics still fritzing. As best he could figure, he'd taken a violent hit to the back of his head, damaging a number of vital systems. His internal repair was at work, but he was still going to have to get hold of Ratchet just to even get out of here. Wherever _here_ was.

Just as he started drifting off once again, the sound of an engine heading towards him startled him awake. A shiny yellow sports car was making its way carefully through the trees towards him. Yellow…he remembered a flash of the colour now. This must be the guy that knocked him out, and in one shot at that.

Deciding to actually be cautious for a change, Smokescreen remained still and simply watched as the car pulled to a stop. One of the doors opened and a human was all but shoved out of the car, a second smaller one bawling her eyes out in his arms.

"Jack!" Smokescreen called out in a panic, struggling to get up.

"Smokescreen!" Jack gasped, hurrying over to the bot; Leah hugged tightly to his chest.

"What- what happened?" The Autobot asked, wincing at the sheer volume the little girl was reaching with her cries.

Jack rubbed her back as soothingly as he could manage, shaking slightly himself. It was clear that while the young man could handle himself in a dangerous situation, his baby sister was a different story. "I don't know- I think- I think he's Sideswipe. Or at least he said he was, but he's a Decepticon, I saw the insignia!"

"Sideswipe's red." Was Smokescreen's oh-so-helpful response as he rubbed at the back of his head painfully. "He's not. Unless he really knocked something loose."

"Gee thanks Captain Obvious," Jack retorted at a hiss. "Bots can change their colours you know!" He waved a hand at Smokescreen himself; referring to the dark blue and yellow paint the bot currently wore, it having not been the original colours Jack had met the bot in.

"Yeah, but that yellow's awful."

"Frag you too." Came their captor's grumbled response, as he proceeded to toss the horrible car-seat out and then transform, trampling it for good measure.

Actually, Smokescreen could see how Jack had thought it was Sideswipe. His voice sounded close enough, and his general frame was nearly identical, the only exceptions being his red eyes, the weird fin things he had on either side of his head instead of horns, and the really nasty looking sneer plastered across his face. And the horrible yellow paint.

Of course, he must've muttered some of that out loud, as Jack elbowed his leg roughly. "Let the damn paint go!" He hissed. "Unless you want him to thrash you again!"

"No, I'm good." The Decepticon replied flatly, shaking mashed car-seat remains off his foot. "You weren't really much fun to beat up the first time. Who the frag passes out after only one hit?"

"Me apparently," Smokescreen grumbled, making a face. "Look, who are you and what do you want anyway?"

"Soundwave."

"Really cause you don't look like-"

"No, I want Soundwave's _location_," The yellow bot grit out irritably. "We've tracked his coordinates but he's not there. Intel says the Autobots' pet squishies were the last to have seen him."

When Smokescreen and Jack shared a glance between them, the Decepticon rolled his eyes and huffed, stalking towards them and snatching up Smokescreen with an arm around his throat. A yellow arm transformed into a blaster and was placed against the Autobot's head. "I don't have all day and all these organic growths are messing with my finish, so talk or I blow out whatever Smokey here uses instead of a processor."

Smokescreen seemed mildly offended by that, but all Jack could think of was that his baby sister was here. He couldn't let her big buddy Smokescreen get hurt right in front of her; he'd say whatever it took to get them all out safely and it was obvious the Decepticon knew it.

"He's in a pocket dimension; we trapped him there with a pair of Space Bridges." The young man rattled off quickly. "The coordinates you're tracking are probably right, he's just in a different phase to you I guess."

The Con made a face at that, probably not really a fan of science if his violent and uninterested demeanour was anything to go by. "How do we get him out then?" The bot growled in annoyance, jabbing Smokescreen in the head once again. Leah began to cry even louder at that, trying to hide her face in her older brother's shirt. "And would you make that thing stop before I step on it?"

"No!" Jack exclaimed, wide-eyed, gripping the child tighter and doubling his efforts to calm her down. "Opening two space bridges at the same time at those coordinates should do it." He tried to explain, thinking back to the time he, Raf and Miko had been trapped in what Miko had called the 'Shadowzone'. That had been how the bots had gotten them out at least.

The yellow Decepticon glanced up at a nearby tree with a bored look; "That all you needed Ravage?"

Jack stared up in the same direction and was surprised to find a metal panther with bright red eyes staring back. It turned its head towards the road and then nodded to its fellow Decepticon, vanishing off into the trees.

Screeching tires sounded nearby and then a flash of blue and red rushed through the trees; Arcee and the real Sideswipe arriving on the scene.

"Sunstreaker!" Arcee shouted angrily, storming over and shoving the blaster aimed at Smokescreen's head away. The Con didn't bother fighting her, converting it back into an arm and stepping back with a smirk. "If you've hurt any of them, I'll rip you to shreds myself," She snarled at him, reaching to inspect a rather dizzy Smokescreen's head carefully.

"Cause that went so well for you last time didn't it?" Sunstreaker retorted, clearly not at all scared of her. In fact, he turned his back on her and stalked off towards the main road, giving Sideswipe a half-hearted wave as he passed the stunned-looking red bot. "Later bro."

* * *

"You didn't think it would be a good idea to mention Sideswipe has a _Decepticon for a brother_?!"

"I didn't think _someone_ would get in a car with a complete stranger, especially with his _baby_ sister!"

"I didn't _think_ he was a stranger!"

Sideswipe heaved a sigh, something he'd picked up very quickly from Ratchet and the humans as it described how he was feeling perfectly, and slumped down against the wall, staring over at Arcee and Jack. They'd been at it since they'd arrived back at the base; both angry and frustrated with the whole situation and quite happy to take it out on each other. When it really came down to it though, both were just scared and concerned for Smokescreen and Leah, so Sideswipe thought they were just being stupid.

To be fair, Arcee had always been like that. She picked someone to blame and she simply took everything out on them, regardless of whether it was deserved or not.

Ratchet was at work on Smokescreen's head, refraining from grumbling at the younger bot as he repaired him for once. Jazz was seated nearby, playing children's music to a finally calmed-down Leah and trying to block out the loud argument for her. When he'd gotten his speakers fixed, Sideswipe had no idea, but that was just Jazz for you.

Fireflight wandered over quietly and sat down beside him, leaning her weight against his arm. She didn't bother asking if he was okay, already knowing the answer as she had brothers herself. _Slightly_ less psychotic in most of their cases, but still.

Actually…Sunstreaker wasn't half as crazy today as he probably should've been. Smokescreen had been babbling about his 'awful paint' most of the trip back to base, so it was a safe bet he'd probably mentioned it to the Con's face too. Any other time that would've been enough to send his vain brother into a violent fit, but apparently not this time; he'd been too focused on something else.

Letting out a sound surprisingly close to a sharp human whistle, Sideswipe waited until everyone turned to stare (or glare) at him. "What did Sunny want?" He asked Jack seriously.

The human blinked a moment, probably confused over the nickname, before replying with a frown. "He wanted to know where Soundwave was, how to free him. He had this weird metal cat with him as well-"

"Ravage," Jazz grumbled, making a face. "That's just great. Chances are this has nothing to do with Sunshine at all, Ravage just picked him specifically because he could get the information easiest."

"But how did they even get here without us knowing?" Jack asked, moving to go sit beside his sister, done with yelling for now. "Shouldn't the sensors have picked them and their ship up?"

"Unless they didn't come with a ship," Sideswipe input, glancing down at the floor. "You mentioned Knock Out's on Cybertron? Most Decepticon grounders stick together, they're considered outcasts you know? Sunny doesn't get along with him at all, but some of the others do. Any of Breakdown's siblings probably could've talked him into bridging them here."

Jack was beginning to look even more lost now, but the bots didn't notice, too preoccupied.

"And Ravage would know this," Jazz added in frustration. "Fraggin' minicons. Might have to contact Cybertron later Ratch, get Knock Out questioned."

Ratchet's optics widened and he shook his head. "Not later, _now_. If they're going to free Soundwave, they're going to need two space bridges. The only ones any of us know of are the one on Cybertron and _this_ one."

"But this base is hidden, there's no way they can find us right?" Jack spoke up, hugging his sister to him and glancing around the bots. He didn't get the answer he wanted, all of them turning to stare at Sideswipe instead. "What? What is it?"

"Sunny and I are spark-split twins."

At Jack's confused look, Ratchet explained; "Spark-split twins are mostly a medical mystery, we don't know what causes them or even fully what they're capable of. We _are_ aware that they're linked; emotions, strong thoughts, they filter through the link. They're also able to track each other from almost anywhere."

"I usually keep my side of the link blocked; it's how I deal with us being separated." Sideswipe explained quietly. "But if he's willing to take advantage of it, he knows exactly where we are."

* * *

**Next Episode: Betrayal**  
_A flashback to the war; we learn a little about Spec Ops' past._

* * *

_So, I stand corrected; it's actually the next two chapters that were already done. And due to the way I chose to write this one, they're gonna need some heavy editing. Hopefully they'll be out soon._

_As usual, thanks to everyone reading!_  
_~Saani_


	7. Betrayal (Part 1)

**Betrayal (Part 1)**

_Please note, this chapter is entirely a Flashback._

* * *

"-on Cybertron convinced you that shooting a_ bright red Aerial_ with _very obvious Autobot markings_ in the middle of _our base_ was a good idea!?" Prowl ranted, rubbing at his temple in frustration as he glared at the red and grey bots in front of him. "Do you have _any _idea how much trouble this has caused with Silverbolt!? Not to mention Ratchet!"

Prowl was an average-sized bot, relatively similar in build to the way Smokescreen would be in a few thousand years' time, including the odd-looking door-wings currently hiked up in anger on his back. His colouring marked him very clearly as a former law-enforcement officer, decked out in black, white and a few hints of red. He was extremely light on his feet and silent even as he paced around and ranted: signs of his training as a cyber-ninja.

The other bot in trouble alongside Sideswipe was Bluestreak; a dark grey bot barely bigger than Arcee, and very clearly still quite young. The little winglets on his back trembled as he tried to duck away from his angry superior, looking as angelically innocent as physically possible. Sideswipe simply grinned (angering Prowl further); those big blue eyes never failed to get them out of trouble. Already Prowl was starting to falter.

"Aw lighten up Prowl, the bot's okay and even forgave us already!" Sideswipe argued. It was true; the little Aerial's name had been Fireflight and despite her rather fantastic crash through a tower, she had been pretty understanding about the whole incident. Her teammates and the medic that had had to repair her however, were a completely different story.

A few feet away Arcee and Sunstreaker leaned against the side of the Rustbucket, one of the team's two ships, and rolled their optics; used to their teammates' antics by now. Or rather Sideswipe's antics; poor Blue was usually an extremely naïve but mostly innocent bystander.

The two were reasonably good friends, being the least out-going and crazy of their teammates, other than perhaps Hound. They had a habit of hiding out in Jazz's never-used office together when things got especially weird, Sunny usually drawing and Arcee attempting to meditate.

"Do we even want to know what happened?" Arcee asked the trouble-makers dryly, raising an eye-ridge.

"Sides said he was going to show me that move he did on the last mission, you know when he tackled that Seeker out of the sky?" Blue replied at a couple hundred miles a minute, fidgeting as he babbled. "We were heading out to find one when the Aerial flew straight in from a weird direction, completely missing the front gate. I didn't know she was an Autobot, I just thought she was a very lost Con or maybe a spy or something-"

"I would take that as a no." Sunstreaker informed Arcee flatly, cutting off the smaller bot's rambling as Jazz practically bounded into the hanger, stopping in front of the little group and clasping his hands.

"Good to see you're all rarin' to go, we got a mission!" He informed them all cheerfully. "Main army's plannin' an attack and we're gonna make sure it succeeds."

Two similar looking bots, both a good head or two smaller than Sideswipe, wandered in, looking far less happy than Jazz. One was a shiny bright red, the other a combination of a duller red and white. Both had horns on their heads and cranky expressions on their faces, looking like they'd just been woken up: Cliffjumper and Tailgate. Cliff grumbled to himself, muttering something about Jazz's demise.

"Ah toughen up you two," The silver commander replied dismissively. "Someone grab 'Raj an' Hound, take off's in ten. Prowler'll do the briefin' in-flight."

As usual, they didn't all scatter as one would expect; instead electing to hang around and talk before rushing to get ready in the last two minutes.

Sideswipe ducked away from Prowl with a grin, moving to run a quick system-check on the Rustbucket, Blue babbling some kind of excuse and rushing off to go find Mirage and Hound as Jazz had asked. Tailgate wandered over to chat up Arcee, who had no problems with it, a stupid smile even crossing her face, and Sunstreaker huffed in annoyance, climbing into the ship to harass his brother instead.

"Still hating on 'Gate huh?" Sides commented cheerfully, elbow-deep in the wiring under the control panel. "He's really not that bad you know."

"He's annoying." The yellow twin grumbled, crossing his arms and flopping into one of the seats. "And loud. And he looks stupid. Who the frag's that happy all the time looking like _that_?"

Sideswipe simply rolled his optics in amusement; these were the same complaints Sunstreaker had about most of the team. Well except Arcee, whom he actually almost _liked _which was a miracle in itself, and Prowl and Mirage, who had their own unique grumbles (being an over-bearing, hard-headed, walking rulebook and a stuck-up, obnoxious snob respectively).

"You know, you've been especially grouchy lately bro, what's up?" The red twin commented, yanking out a bunch of wires and tossing them over his shoulder at his brother.

Flicking the wires away in annoyance and checking to make sure they hadn't scratched his finish, Sunstreaker merely shrugged. "Nothing," He replied evasively. "I just hate everyone."

"So I keep hearing," Sides replied cheerily, rushing to finish up when he heard Blue return, chattering the audials off the pair he'd gone to fetch.

Hound likely didn't mind, the scout and tracker was a very laid-back and calm individual, not one to let anything get to him. He probably spent the most time out of the team actually listening to Bluestreak. Mirage however, could be heard huffing in annoyance even before they entered the hangar. The spy had been one of the upper class before the war, and had retained a lot of his more elitist traits. He had a good spark in there somewhere; it was just usually hidden by obnoxious fussing and demeaning comments.

The conversation was ended by Jazz calling out the two minute warning, and everyone scattering to gather their equipment and get on-board the ship.

* * *

"I'm bored!" Sideswipe complained, stretching out in the pilot's seat of the small transport ship and groaning. "How long's it take to shoot a few lousy Con snipers?"

As was the norm for missions like this, the team had been separated into their usual partners and given individual assignments. For the other four pairs, that involved assisting the main Autobot forces in an attack on a Decepticon base. It was their job to take out the base's snipers and ranged weaponry and the command element if they could manage it, leaving the actual battle up to the main army.

The twins however, were to stay behind as backup, transporting the teams as needed and functioning as a rendezvous point, something the battle-happy Sunstreaker was not at all thrilled about. Sideswipe wasn't especially happy either, but he was used to it as the team's pilot. Actually, come to think of it, as his regular partner, Sunny should've been pretty used to it as well, so why was he so jittery today? Judging by the radio chatter they were able to pick up with the ship's stronger sensors, things were mostly going as planned and they'd be able to return to base soon.

Sunstreaker only bothered to grace him with a grunt in response, otherwise remaining silent and staring out the front window. That wasn't especially unusual, but his tense stance and constant fidgeting was. "Sunny?" Sideswipe questioned, turning to stare at his twin. "What's up with you today?"

"Nothing," Came a growled answer, followed with a half-hearted, "And don't call me that."

Well aware of his brother's legendary stubbornness, Sideswipe shrugged and let the subject drop for now. Sure enough, Sunstreaker grumbled to himself a few minutes later. "We should be down there doing something, anywhere but here."

"What? Why? I mean I know this is boring but-" Sideswipe was interrupted by his twin grabbing at the controls suddenly and manoeuvring the ship towards the ground.

"Huh, what-?" The red Autobot practically fell out of his chair; resting his feet on the console out of boredom really hadn't been such a great idea. "Sunny! What are you doing!?" Sunstreaker didn't respond, refusing to meet his gaze. "Sunny!"

"Shut up." The yellow bot finally snapped tightly. "Okay? Just shut up."

A faint feeling of…was that guilt (?) passed through their link, before Sunstreaker's side clamped shut. Sideswipe had no chance to figure out what exactly that was as the second the ship hit the ground (not even close to the perfect landing Sideswipe would most definitely have done; there's a reason he was the pilot around here thank you very much), Sunny was out of there. He glanced around wildly for a moment before sprinting off in a seemingly random direction.

It never occurred to Sideswipe not to trust his brother, so despite knowing that Arcee and Tailgate were due to arrive anytime now, he took off after Sunny all the while wondering what was going on. Big mistake.

As they rounded a corner, entering the base that the battle was taking place in through a large gap in the wall, likely caused by Jazz's explosives judging by the sheer amount of damage, Sunny skidded to a stop. The next thing Sideswipe knew, his twin was giving him the closest thing to an apologetic look Sunny was even capable of, and then something hit him from behind, sending a powerful electric current through his frame and knocking him unconscious immediately.

* * *

Sideswipe awoke to a blurry Bluestreak's concerned face blocking out anything else, as the smaller bot did his best to patch up the pilot's fried systems. The younger bot had gone through extensive first aid training alongside a number of other Autobots from smaller teams at the head medic Ratchet's insistence. It had been a good idea; turning fatal injuries into merely serious but treatable ones, and allowed Blue to feel more useful. The little bot had never handled taking lives very well despite his exceptional sniping skills, and having the chance to save some instead was doing him a world of good. Unfortunately, it also removed Prowl from the battle whenever his skills were needed, as the ninja wasn't willing to leave his younger partner's side.

Sure enough, Prowl stepped forward into Sideswipe's view, demanding in a deathly serious tone: "What happened? Why were you and Sunstreaker not where you were supposed to be?"

"Sunny!" The red bot exclaimed, shooting up into a sitting position and regretting it immediately as his world began to spin. "Ooh, that's not good," He groaned, gripping at his head.

"You've gotta take it easy Siders!" Blue admonished, pulling his hand away so he could inspect Sideswipe's head. "Someone actually managed to hit you in the back of the head with an EMP grenade, so your systems are really not happy with you right now. A number of wires and lines are completely fried and way out of my knowledge base; we're going to have to get you back to base for Ratchet to take a look at you, even though he's still mad at us. Not that I think he wouldn't fix you because he's mad, he's not that kind of bot-"

"Blue, _enough_." Prowl interrupted his partner with a far stricter tone than he was known for using with the little bot, sending warning bells off in Sideswipe's head. What had happened while he was unconscious? Apparently Prowl didn't have any real details either as he once again demanded an explanation as to the twins' whereabouts. "Do you think I plan these things in great detail for _fun_? Why were you not at the rendezvous point?"

"Well you do get this creepy satisfied smile when you finish explaining them, so maybe." Sideswipe replied cheekily, scrambling to his feet. "But no seriously, I have no idea what happened. Sunny just randomly crashed the ship and ran off; we never even saw- Arcee! Where is she and Tailgate? Are they alright?"

Both of his teammates shared a grim look, Blue staring down at the ground as he rattled off; "They're both missing and not responding. Cliff's out with a team of scouts from the main army looking for them. 'Raj and Hound ran into a bit of trouble with their mission and are running late, so we're without Hound's tracking skills."

"And Jazz?" Sides asked carefully, both worried and a little suspicious now.

"Jazz is still combing over the site where they were captured; near the rendezvous point." Prowl replied tightly. "There's evidence to suggest the Decepticons knew we would be meeting there and staged an ambush."

"They _knew_-?" Sides cut himself off, optics widening as he shook his head stubbornly, the pieces finally clicking together. "You think Sunny and I had something to do with it!"

"You're both former Decepticons and were inexplicably missing when the capture occurred," Prowl stated with a shrug. "What else would we be likely to believe?"

"I don't know! But that's _not _what happened! We'd never…" Sideswipe moved to storm out of the small building they were hiding out in. "You just wait until we find Sunny and-"

While it was true that the twins had once been Decepticons, it had been a long time ago, back at the beginning of the war. They'd spent a good portion of their lives stuck fighting in gladiatorial rings, so when the famous gladiator Megatronus had decided to stage an uprising and strike out against the oppressing upper classes, it had seemed like a good idea to join him. Once things had gotten crazy and innocents had been killed, they'd jumped ship, joining the Autobots' newly formed Spec Ops unit. Sunstreaker had kicked up a bit of a fuss over it, not at all happy with the idea of joining the side with so many of the elitists that he'd fought against in the first place, but he'd followed his twin and in Sideswipe's belief, never looked back.

Jazz had just arrived at their location and was leaning against an outside wall, looking deep in thought; his usual cheerful disposition nowhere to be seen. "Cliff's found Arcee; she's on her way back to base now. Tailgate is dead." The small silver bot shook his head and glanced up at Sideswipe; "Your brother's also been spotted."

Sideswipe closed his optics tightly, all of his energy and fight draining out of him immediately. They'd lost someone; whatever excuse Sunny had just wasn't going to cut it now. What had he been thinking? And who had he teamed up with to knock Sideswipe out. And _why_? So many questions were running through his head, and he didn't like the answer he was coming up with.

"Where?" He asked tightly, dreading the answer.

"Out on the main battlefield; 'longside the Cons."

* * *

_The first of a couple of Flashback episodes planned. I really enjoyed the episode Out of the Past, and thought it might be fun to go back like that a few times. This was originally written in a similar way, with Sideswipe telling the story and sharing random tidbits, but after the way I wrote the last chapter, I decided it didn't quite work. They weren't going to have time to just sit around and tell a story at that point in time, but I really did want all the backstory learned in this chapter to be presented _now_._

_Random bit of trivia; this was the first chapter I actually wrote. Heavy editing has since been done haha._

_Thanks as always to everyone for reading!  
~Saani_


	8. Betrayal (Part 2)

**Betrayal (Part 2)**  
_Please note, this chapter is entirely a flashback and a continuation of the last one._

* * *

"I can't believe he's gone. Just-just like that. I couldn't- I should've- I didn't save him…"

Arcee was huddled in a corner of the Medical Bay, Bumblebee, a yellow and black-coloured scout, seated beside her and patting her back comfortingly. He was working to bandage up some of her more seriously bleeding wounds as she was too far gone to do it herself and the medics were still busy with more serious injuries at that point. Cliffjumper had left not long after dropping her off, needing to report back to his superiors as apparently there was more to Tailgate's death than most of them thought. He'd promised to come back as soon as he could though.

Bumblebee glanced around the room as the femme continued to mutter to herself, trying to distract himself at least a little. He'd been friends with Tailgate as well, although nowhere near as close as Arcee apparently was; he was really going to miss him. This was also Spec Ops' first death to his knowledge; he wondered how badly it was going to affect them. They'd handled a number of near-misses with their usual carefree attitude, but with all the rumours flying around about Sunstreaker's involvement, he doubted that would be the case this time.

He watched as the head medic Ratchet finished patching up a large, green Wrecker and began lecturing the poor bot to be careful for the foreseeable future; apparently Ratchet wasn't especially happy with the casualty count for this particular battle, most conscious bots that had come through his bay had gotten grouched at today. It probably didn't help that two of his precious Aerialbots had been part of that count, Fireflight having taken one of her brothers and three Decepticon Seekers out of the sky when she lost control to apparently still-wonky wings. Both flyers were resting on tables towards the back of the room, their older brother and commander Silverbolt, a tall bulky-looking flyer in a couple different shades of grey and silver, keeping watch over them.

Just as Ratchet all but kicked the Wrecker out of the med bay and Bumblebee began to hope he could look at Arcee finally, Jazz came wandering into the med bay, looking far too serious for the little scout's liking. As much as everyone wondered and complained about the silver bot's ridiculously upbeat attitude and near-constant blaring music, it was much preferred over whatever bad news always followed a mood like this. Sure enough, Prowl trailed him in a moment later, pulling along an utterly-depressed looking Sideswipe.

Bee jumped to his feet with a questioning beep, wondering what on Cybertron was going on. Unfortunately, that got Arcee's attention and the next thing anyone knew, she was throwing her least-damaged fist into her former friend's face. "Where were you?!" She demanded, sounding more than a little hysterical. "You and Sunny were supposed to meet Tailgate! He never should've been captured! It should've just been me…it should've been me."

"Arcee!" Jazz called out in a firm tone, pulling the shaking and sobbing femme back as she went to take another swing. "Sides had nothin' to do with it alright? We think Sunstreaker may have set us all up-"

"How could he have nothing to do with it!?" Arcee snarled, struggling to try and escape her commander's grip. "They're _twins_! Either he knew or he's too fragging stupid to have noticed!"

"Arcee, enough!" Came Prowl's stern voice when Sideswipe completely failed to react, too caught up in very likely the same thoughts. It was extremely unsettling to see the usually cheerful bot so down-trodden like this. He wasn't even trying to fake a smile as was the norm when something went horribly wrong.

Unfortunately, Cliffjumper chose that moment to return to the med bay, the rest of the Ops team trailing along behind him. "What the frag's he doing here instead of the brig?!" The little red bot demanded, jabbing a finger in Sideswipe's direction.

Prowl rubbed at his temples in frustration before calmly stating; "We have no reason to believe Sideswipe was involve-"

"No reason? Really?" Mirage questioned haughtily. "Hound and I just watched his brother _rip apart_ half a dozen Autobots out on the battle field. Surely there's at least going to be some kind of investigation?"

"Just cause there's- there's something _wrong_ with Sunny doesn't mean Sides-" Blue tried to argue, standing up for his best friend. The former noble wouldn't hear a word of it though.

"Of course there's something _wrong_ with him! There always has been!" The delicate-looking white and blue bot huffed exasperatedly, ignoring Hound's efforts to get him to calm down. "They're both violent _maniacs_!"

"They're our friends! How could you just turn on them so quickly!? Maybe _you're_ the one who needs to be investigated!" Blue retorted, waving his arms around, looking both angry and very hurt over the whole situation.

Whatever Mirage had to say next was interrupted by a bolt of lightning hitting the ground in the middle of the bickering group and startling most of them. "Enough!" Ratchet bellowed loudly, Silverbolt standing beside him, having been the cause of the electricity. "If you're not Jazz, Prowl, or injured, get the frag out of my med bay!"

Any further complaints were met with a deadly warning look from Jazz, so Blue, Mirage and Cliffjumper didn't resist when Hound ushered them out of the room and back towards their team's hangar. The silver bot deflated the moment they were gone; "Primus, what a mess." He mumbled, handing Arcee back to Bumblebee, who ushered the unresisting femme back to her corner.

Bee hugged her to his side as she broke down into a mess of shivering sobs, glancing over and giving Sideswipe a sympathetic look with his big blue eyes. Arcee was never going to forgive the pilot or his twin for this, no matter what anyone else said, and Sideswipe knew it.

* * *

Weeks passed and the atmosphere amongst the Spec Ops team wasn't even close to improving. Blue was defiantly standing by a still completely withdrawn Sideswipe, while Cliffjumper, Mirage and Arcee refused to even be in the same room as the bot. Jazz, Prowl and Hound were doing their best to try and keep the peace, but it was clear to everyone that it wasn't working.

Jazz had been stalling on sending the team on any missions, handling anything that came up either by himself or with Prowl or Bumblebee's assistance, but the time had come where it simply wasn't an option. His team had been ordered to wipe out a nearby hidden Decepticon base, and it was going to take the full team whether he liked it or not. While discussing out how to minimize the drama, Prowl had come up with the brilliant idea to partner up Arcee and Sideswipe, forcing them to work things out between them, with the belief that if they were no longer fighting, the rest of the team would simply follow suit. Jazz didn't believe it would be that easy, but he trusted his friend's judgement and proceeded to give it a shot.

It went about as well as expected; beginning with a loud and extremely impolite argument from most of the team, and continuing on to the most awkward ride ever in the Rustbucket when Jazz stubbornly forced them all to push on.

Their mission was rather simple; they were simply attacking what they believed to be a small underground Decepticon base beneath what appeared to be an abandoned town. It was too close to Autobot territory to leave be, so they were to capture any Cons they could for questioning and demolish the base.

"Right, Siders and Cee, you're both with the ship. Any backup arrives; I want it shot dead, got it?" Jazz began tossing out orders as the team departed the small ship, simply speaking right over the top of any arguments and ignoring the death glare battle going on between the femme and pilot. "Blue and Prowler, find yourselves a sniper point, you're our cover. Hound, Raj and Cliff, clear out the base, capture any Cons you find. I'm gonna go set the explosives. Everyone good? Good. Let's roll!"

Sideswipe and Arcee were left in silence within a minute, utterly refusing to speak to one another and simply listening in on the team's hushed radio chatter while Arcee sharpened her wrist blades. Despite the blades being as sharp as they were going to get, she was still at it when Sideswipe decided he'd had more than enough. "Cee-" He started, only to be interrupted by the ship's proximity sensors going off. Of course the Cons were going to attack then, why wouldn't they? Well, at least he could take out his frustration on them.

Starting the ship back up, he activated its cloaking systems and took off into the air. The weapons systems locked on to the enemies easily enough; it was merely a trio of cars seemingly evacuating the base. It was a bit odd they'd managed to get past Blue and his aim, but Sideswipe brushed it off, assuming the smaller bot had felt sorry for them. It was a well-known fact that flash sports cars were not the most popular Decepticons, and regularly got left behind or sent on the worst of missions.

He never even considered the possibility of Sunstreaker being one of them, despite the bright yellow colouring of the third car; perhaps it was just subconscious denial or something? Regardless, he was surprised when a deathly serious Arcee proceeded to jump out of the ship, just as he was taking aim at the first car, a jet black colour.

"Arcee!" She was a Cyberninja after all, so she could probably handle the landing, but it was still going to hurt.

It wasn't until she'd landed roughly and struggled back to her feet, taking off after the yellow car that Sideswipe realised what she was doing. "S-sunny…" He murmured to himself, hesitating. It was no wonder Blue hadn't shot these bots; he simply didn't have the spark to kill someone he considered a friend, regardless of what they had done.

Sideswipe froze; every instinct in him screaming at him to go protect his brother, despite what he'd done and who was after him. Utterly decimating the black car with the ship's blasters, he forced it into a rushed landing, transforming the moment he was out and speeding off after Arcee and Sunstreaker.

Just as he got close, the final Decepticon, a hideous neon green, swerved in front of him, cutting him off. Both transformed immediately, the Con all but throwing himself at Sideswipe, swinging for his head with a massive battle axe. As Sideswipe spun and ducked, narrowly avoiding the attack, he decided that all worries about his brother and friend trying to kill one another were going to have to wait; he was no help to either of them headless. Growling, he unsheathed his wrist blades and lunged at the Con.

He parried a second blow with his left blade, his entire arm shuddering at the impact but withstanding it for now, and swiped at the vital lines in the Con's neck with his right. The attack connected, but only enough to cause the axe-wielding maniac to drop his weapon and stumble backwards, gripping at his throat. A quick blast from his jetpack sent Sideswipe hurtling up and forwards, allowing him to quickly swing around and jab a blade straight through his opponent's head. Landing awkwardly and yanking the blade back out, he grimaced at the sparking wires and large amount of energon, before kicking the corpse away and scanning the area for Arcee and Sunstreaker.

They'd wandered a good distance while fighting, Arcee's combat style and delicate build requiring her to dodge repeatedly before attacking any openings. He watched them battle it out a few moments longer: Arcee clearly utterly furious and letting attacks come far closer than she should considering just how hard Sunstreaker was capable of hitting. Sure enough a flip backwards after a kick to the yellow bot's face was just a tiny bit too slow and she was smashed hard with a fist and sent sprawling into the ground.

She managed to roll just in time as Sunstreaker slammed a foot down where her head had been, and scrambled back to her feet. Her optics were fritzing and her balance was clearly off now; she wouldn't be able to take another hit like that.

Sunny seemed to have slipped into his usual battle-rage, an unhinged and wild look in his now red optics. He pounced on the unstable femme, stabbing both of his blades into her torso. She managed to just evade the one aimed for her spark which would have been fatal, but the second one dug straight into her side, tearing through her armour and a number of lines and wires. She fell to the ground with a cry of pain, but Sunny didn't stop, clearly intent on killing her.

"No!" Sideswipe dove, tackling his brother to the ground, both rolling a short distance.

Sunstreaker snarled and smashed his twin's head into the ground violently the moment they stopped, peeved at having had his fight interrupted. As Sideswipe stared up at him wide-eyed, Sunstreaker seemed to snap out of it, stumbling away backwards, a shocked look on his own face. At that moment a number of shots rang out, all hitting the yellow bot dead on in the back and sending him sprawling face-first into the ground. Bluestreak.

The little bot was shaking as he rushed over to help Sideswipe up, his rifle in hand. "I'm sorry- I didn't- I- Are you alright- I-" Blue prattled frantically.

The red bot accepted the help without a word, staring over at his twin blankly. He was so out of it, he didn't even move when Sunstreaker groaned and began to pick himself up. Blue reacted, readying his rifle once again, but it wasn't needed, Arcee throwing herself at the Decepticon.

She'd aimed high and tackled his shoulder, sending them both crashing down into the ground once again, this time her ending up on top, one of her wrist blades held to his throat.

"Go on, do it," Sunstreaker grit out, scowling up at the femme.

"Cee! Cee, don't!" Blue called out desperately. "They're twins- you can't-!"

It was Arcee's turn to hesitate, well aware of the rumours that spark-split twins shared a life, that when one perished, the other eventually followed. "You think I don't know that?" She snapped back at Bluestreak, her bladed arm shaking slightly. "I just- I can't- Tailgate… Why?" She demanded of the Decepticon helplessly, "Why'd you do it?"

"They wanted one of Spec Ops." Sunstreaker replied tightly. "It came down to you and Tailgate or Sideswipe, and face it, I was never going to pick you over him."

Arcee snapped her optics shut at that, keeping the blade tight against his throat for a moment as though considering what to do. Eventually she pulled it away and got to her feet, struggling through a transformation and driving away without a word.

Sideswipe pushed Blue gently, forcing him to do the same and follow after her. "It didn't have to be like this," He said quietly to his twin.

"Yeah, it did."

With one last look back at Sunstreaker, Sideswipe transformed and followed after his teammates.

* * *

**Next Episode: Freedom**  
_The Autobots finally discover why bots have yet to return to Cybertron, and an old enemy escapes._

* * *

_A lot of editing was done to this one until I was finally satisfied. Not my best work, but I think it covers what I wanted it to. Next chapter will be back to the present time._

_Thanks for the follows, favourites, and reviews, please keep them up as they bring me great joy! I really do love the feedback, no matter how big or small._

_~Saani_


	9. Freedom (Part 1)

**Freedom (Part 1)**

* * *

The Decepticons attacked the base a mere hour later, mostly as expected, except for the addition of two dozen or so drones they'd pulled out of _nowhere_ as far as the 'Bots were concerned, and the suspicious absence of Ravage.

Fireflight was first out the main doors, casting herself off into the air and transforming gleefully, completely ignoring Ratchet's shouted warnings after her. As she looped back around, she aimed her plasma cannon at the nearest group of drones, Sideswipe following along in his car form on the ground. They were going to utterly wipe the floor with these drones and by the looks of things, said drones knew it. They were sticking in groups of four or five and looking rather nervous in fact, probably because they only had maybe five flyers of their own among them.

"They're the distraction!" Sideswipe called up to his airborne teammate. "Let's take 'em out fast!"

"One Fire Fog coming up!" 'Flight called back down cheerfully, laughing as the few flying drones quickly scattered and took to the air.

Her 'Fire Fog' grenades were specially designed thermobaric explosives, given to her by fellow Aerialbot and Scientist Jetfire. When detonated, they released a chemical cloud into the air, that when combined with the air's natural chemicals and then drastically heated, created a massive, and very destructive explosion. Due to the way they worked, they had to be tailored to the planet's atmosphere. Fortunately, or unfortunately in the drones' case, this planet was similar enough to another organic world they had visited in the past and she still had one or two left.

Sideswipe and the drones watched (dumbly in the latters' case) as she dropped the grenade, following it up with a blast from her plasma cannon. The chemicals spread and heated quickly and well...everything exploded.

Riding out the blast wave up into the sky, Fireflight flared out her sensors, quickly tracking down the few flying drones and chasing down the nearest, obviously figuring Sideswipe could handle the remainder of the ground-based drones. She wasn't wrong; the blast had taken out about half of the drones, leaving around nine still intact enough for the darker red Autobot to beat on. Which he proceeded to do so with gusto.

His first victim was unfortunate enough to be between him and the others, and ended up simply driven over and mashed into the pavement. Whoops. The second one survived being rammed with Sideswipe's front end, long enough for the bot to transform and punch his face in. Poor drone. The third, fourth and fifth were smart enough to shoot at the bot while running away which earned them a couple of minutes of life each, while Sideswipe chased them down individually to hack them to pieces with his blades.

The next two apparently learned _nothing_ from their companions' demises, and actually ran at the Autobot to take him on. That ended with a blade through the face for one of them and a pummelling for the other. Drones eight and nine simply elected to transform and drive away at their highest speeds. Sideswipe grinned and transformed himself, taking off after them. His vehicle form was a Cybertronian racing vehicle with a couple of armour additions since the beginning of the war.

He was built for speed and did _so_ enjoy chasing down stupid, especially if it meant he didn't have to face his brother again anytime soon. As angry and hurt as he was, he just didn't have it in him to fight Sunstreaker. All he could really think about was how relieved he felt to see him alive and in one piece and how insane that probably made him. So if beating on some drones and hanging around a far too over-excited flyer stalled such a meeting for even a little while, well bring it on.

He shifted out of his vehicle mode at high speed, tackling Unfortunate Drone Number Nine. The drone reverted back to its root form as they tumbled, allowing Sideswipe to less-than-politely break its face.

Glancing upwards for a moment afterward, he could see that Fireflight had blown a gaping hole through one of the flyers and was in the process of crashing another two into each other with a sudden mid-air stop. Looked like she'd been distracted by a frightened bird or something; typical 'Flight. Her flying was wildly renowned as terrible, even amongst her own siblings who loved her to death, but against enemies like this, it appeared to do the job just fine. Drones just simply didn't have the intelligence to predict her chaotic movements.

He watched as she veered off course for a few moments with absolutely no idea of what she'd spotted this time, before a couple of shots wizzed right past her and snapped her out of it. The poor drone was met with a well-aimed plasma blast and crashed down to the ground in a smoking heap.

Damn. At this rate the drones were going to be gone in a matter of minutes and he was going to have to go join the main fight. Grinning, he figured he'd make the most of what time he had left and stalked off after the final surviving drone.

* * *

Said main fight was taking place right outside the hangar, Sunstreaker not really being one for subtlety of any kind.

Ratchet was inside, barricaded in the med bay with a still-recovering Smokescreen and both Jack and Leah, whom they'd been unable to send home in time. Not that they were especially keen to considering the yellow twin clearly knew where they lived and wasn't above involving them if he felt it necessary. The little girl had headphones on and was watching a movie perched on top of Smokes' chest armour as he lay on a table, reluctantly following Ratchet's orders to rest.

The young Autobot had wanted nothing more than to go out and fight, especially the ugly yellow jerk, but he'd learned the hard way over the years not to argue with the extremely stubborn medic, especially when Arcee of all people was backing Ratchet up on it. Besides, protecting Leah, even if it was just from the sounds of violence and trash-talking was important as well.

Jack and Ratchet on the other hand, were gathered around the med bay's computer; the medic doing everything he could think of to try and get them in contact with Cybertron. Something was interfering with their signal and they simply couldn't get through, something that was really beginning to piss Ratchet off if the repeated muttered curses were anything to go by.

Deciding that he was of no use here, Jack leapt down to the floor and quietly snuck outside, being careful to keep out of sight. For what was possibly the first time in his life, Jack wished Miko and her armour were there, rather than off at whatever concert she'd been babbling about for days. Obviously this whole situation was making him crazy.

Darting outside through one of the smaller side doors, Jack spotted Sunstreaker immediately; his bright gold paint standing out. It seemed Jazz had specifically ordered Arcee after the other Con, as sounds of them fighting were coming from the other side of the building, and the silver ninja was facing down Sideswipe's twin himself.

To be fair, Jack figured, Jazz probably had a lot of issues with the former-Autobot as well. From what he'd managed to gather from all the chatter earlier, the events surrounding Sunstreaker's defection back to the Cons had damaged the whole team badly, tearing them apart. If he'd been the commander, he definitely would've wanted some kind of revenge too.

To his credit though, Jazz managed to remain un-rattled despite the Con's best efforts.

Sunstreaker lunged at the smaller bot, fist aimed straight for his head, but Jazz ducked and rolled easily, aiming a solid kick at the Con's back. Sunny stumbled forward a moment, wincing as Jazz tackled him from behind, gripping him around the throat and twisting his head on a nasty angle. Grunting in pain, the Con dropped, throwing both of them at the concrete. Jazz's grip loosened and he was tossed a short distance, rolling once again back to his feet.

The ninja reacted quickly, shooting his grappling hook at the other's head, managing to smack one of his helm-fins hard and loop around his shoulders messily. A solid pull later and Sunstreaker was once again on the ground, having only made it about halfway up to his feet. Growling in annoyance, the Con unsheathed a wrist blade, identical to his brother's and sliced through the line with a single swipe. Jazz was on him again a moment later, throwing repeated kicks and punches at the larger bot. Most landed painfully, until Sunny managed to parry one foot with a blade and punch the Autobot hard in the face-plates, sending him sprawling backwards and into the building's hard exterior.

"About time you actually did something about me," Sunstreaker taunted, cracking his knuckles and stalking towards the rather dizzy-looking little bot. "Some commander you are."

"We both know the only reason you're not a greyed-out husk by now is 'cause of Siders," Jazz retorted calmly, deflecting the next blow so it went past his head and into the hanger's outer wall. "Don't tempt me."

"Don't make me laugh," Sunstreaker mocked, wrenching his fist out of the shattered concrete and smirking as Jazz bounded up and away, using his grappling hook to shoot him to the building's roof. "What, running away already? Frag, maybe I shouldn't have let Arcee run off, she'd at least put up a _bit_ of a fight."

"You really didn't learn anythin' in all the years you spent with the team did ya?" Jazz questioned sadly, shaking his head as he stared down from the roof. "Pity."

Sunstreaker mostly looked confused, scowling at the other bot. "What's that supposed to me-"

A blast rattled through the area, emanating from the golden bot's back, where Jazz had managed to leave a small explosive during the short melee. Jazz dropped down flat on the roof to avoid any flying pieces of armour and watched; his visor protecting his optics from the smoke. The vain Con's beautiful finish was utterly destroyed; black and charred with a fair whack of plating missing from his back and shoulders.

It wasn't enough to completely take him out however, and he snarled viciously as he struggled back to his feet, a deranged look in his eyes.

"Ah scrap," Jazz muttered.

* * *

Jack ducked back around the building when the explosion rang out, not wanting to be anywhere near that mess; if it killed Sunstreaker there would be energon and metal everywhere, and if it didn't, well he was going to be _pissed_. Unfortunately as he turned around, this brought him face-to-face with the second Con, who simply stared back dully.

She was the biggest femme Jack had seen to date, although considering his count only consisted of Airachnid, Arcee and Fireflight, that probably didn't mean much. She'd clearly already scanned an Earth vehicle mode if the four tires he could see scattered around her frame were anything to go by, another overly flashy car by the looks of it, although this time in a sleek black colour. Her finish was almost as immaculate as he was used to seeing on Knock Out and now Sunstreaker, but a little less…well bright and obnoxious he supposed. She also appeared to have some kind of energy field surrounding her; he could hear it humming faintly.

"Jack!" He heard Arcee's voice as the dark blue femme came running, snatching him away from the Con, who honestly looked like she couldn't care less.

"I'm not going to attack your squishy," She stated in a low bored tone, huffing as though this whole thing was way too much effort. Apparently it was; "There's no real point, it'll just die on its own, probably sooner rather than later. Plus, I heard they make a mess, do you have any idea how much whining I'd have to put up with from Sunshine over there?"

"Yes, I do." Arcee replied tightly, setting Jack back on the ground and standing protectively in front of him. She was looking a little more damaged than Dead End, a couple of dents and deep scratches littering her frame.

"Oh, right," The other femme said with a hint of a smile, "My bad."

"What are you doing out here anyway Jack?" Arcee hissed quietly, glaring down at the human. "I thought you had more sense than this."

Yeah, so did he. Jack sighed and shook his head, taking a few more steps back. "I'm sorry, I just- Ratchet's having trouble with the comms. and Smokes is trying to keep Leah occupied, I just wanted to see what was going on out here I guess."

"Nice going, _Miko_." Arcee replied dryly, rolling her eyes. "Wait- what's wrong with the comms.?"

"Oh, that'd be us." Dead End said uninterestedly, picking at her clawed fingers. "Well, sort of. It's Soundwave's doing, but at Ravage's request. Not that I have any idea why we're even bothering to try and rescue him; he'll likely just die soon anyway."

Jack had a whole string of questions come to mind at that, ranging from 'how was Soundwave doing anything from another dimension?' to 'why is this Decepticon such a downer?', but all of those flew out the window when the Con glanced over towards a nearby building, looking mildly interested for once.

Staring at them from the shadow the building cast was the metal cat again, and unconscious in its jaws was his mother June.

"Mom!"

* * *

_So I'm going to go ahead and just apologise for this chapter now. It's not my best work and I'm not especially happy with it, but I just wanted to get it done and move on. When one day I come back and edit this poor story, this will be the first chapter I really tackle. For now though, it's just going to have to do._

_Next chapter will hopefully be up soon, I am falling behind on my NaNo word count again._

_Reply to Starfire201 from the last chapter: Arcee's grudge is definitely both understandable and misplaced; that was kind of the whole point. Sunny threw them all into a pretty nasty situation, which some of the team dealt with better than others. Hopefully over time she'll start to work on it :) Thanks as always for the review, I hope you keep reading!_

_Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites!_

_~Saani_


	10. Freedom (Part 2)

**Freedom (Part 2)**

* * *

Jazz leapt off the top of the hanger in a hurry, barely managing to roll correctly when he hit the ground, as a now utterly furious Sunstreaker decided to simply tear down the wall in an attempt to get at the smaller bot.

Continuing the roll, the ninja transformed, intending on using his speed to put some distance between them, although Sunstreaker apparently wasn't so fond of the idea, instead grabbing Jazz's bumper and yanking him backwards. The smaller bot grunted in pain when a fist was smashed through his roof, but simply transformed around it, using the charred bot's position to kick him up and over his head, sending him sprawling onto the concrete.

Once again Jazz moved to put some distance between them, back-flipping away and transforming his arm into a blaster which he pointed at Sunstreaker when the bot charged towards him once more. Jazz fired a few shots, mostly warning blasts as he wasn't willing to risk actually deactivating the other bot with all the armour he was already missing, although that resolve was fading very quickly to be replaced with annoyance.

"Back down already Sunshine, you've lost!" He called to the other bot, well aware that it was completely useless. The only thing Sunstreaker was known for more than his vanity was his battle-rage and ridiculous stubbornness. "Sunny!" He warned again, risking a shot at the bot's damaged chest plating.

"_Don't_ call me that," The yellow bot growled out, grunting slightly at the blast but not ceasing his chasing after the ninja. "You're not my friend, you never were, you do _not_ get to call me that."

Jazz rolled his optics under his visor, flipping just out of reach once again and firing at the other bot's feet. "You can keep spoutin' that slag as much as you want _Sunshine_," He replied dismissively, "Whatever makes you feel better about yourself."

Well that certainly had the intended effect of pissing Sunstreaker off, as the bot lunged at him again, this time managing to catch one of the ninja's legs, lifting him up and slamming him down onto the ground. "Pretty sure _this_ makes me feel better," He snarled, stomping a food down on Jazz's chest.

Feeling his plating rattle beneath the pressure, Jazz reacted quickly, firing a blast at the knee of the leg holding him down. In such close proximity, the backlash hurt him too, but not quite as much as it did Sunstreaker, who collapsed, landing on his already damaged plating, leaving him struggling to recover and get back to his feet.

Jazz took the time to carefully stand up himself, cautiously prodding at his own damaged plating and wincing. "Ah, Ratch's gonna kill me," He muttered, eyeing the warrior as he finally staggered back to his feet. "Mornin' Sunshine. That one hurt huh?"

Sunny was apparently beyond coherent words at this point, simply snarling in response and throwing himself violently at the smaller bot once more, forcing Jazz to duck and weave between the increasingly agitated punches. Jazz avoided the vast majority of them, blocking and returning what he could, but it was clear they both couldn't keep this up too much longer.

This close to the deranged bot, Jazz couldn't help thinking of how easy it would be to simply kill him then and there; slice one of his vital lines or something. The rumours of twins dying together could very well be just that, _rumours_, and if anyone was strong enough to prove it, it was Sideswipe. Sure it might take him some time to get past it, but after the centuries of pain and frustration Sunstreaker had caused everyone around him, it might be worth it.

Mind racing, Jazz ducked another punch and snatched at a small blade kept in a compartment in his left leg. His next move was a quick swipe at the back of Sunstreaker's good knee and a shoulder barge, knocking the larger bot off balance and back onto the concrete.

Spinning the knife in his hand, he stared down at the Decepticon undecidedly.

* * *

"Mom!"

Jack shoved past Arcee's legs in a hurry, avoiding her attempts to stop him as he raced towards his mother. All he could think of was the time Airachnid kidnapped her; he couldn't have her in danger like that again. "Let her go!" He demanded of the metal cat, who simply stared back in response, obviously not considering him anything even resembling a threat.

With June in its jaws like that, Arcee wasn't going to risk shooting at it and everyone present knew it. Smugly, the cat simply padded past Jack and Arcee, smacking the former into the ground with a swing of its tail and giving Dead End a pointed look as it passed her, entering the base.

"Jack!" Arcee called, rushing over to her human charge and wincing at the large gash in his head from where it had hit the concrete. "You're bleeding," She fussed, although unable to do anything about it.

"Arcee!" Jack warned dizzily as Dead End nonchalantly pointed one of her blasters at the other female bot's head.

Arcee snatched up Jack and dove out of the way, protecting him with her frame as best she could considering how much bigger he'd grown to be over the few short years. Rolling back to her feet, she transformed, Jack ending up haphazardly on her seat, struggling to hold onto her handlebars as she screeched away, swerving crazily to avoid further shots. Flaring out her sensors to search for somewhere safe for her charge to hide, she spotted Fireflight looping back around to the base, apparently done with the drones.

"'Flight!" She yelled frantically up to the flyer, praying the spacey bot noticed what was going on down below.

Apparently Primus was listening to her for once, as the Aerial dipped a wing in response, flying lower and aiming her plasma cannon at Dead End. While none of the blasts seemed to actually do much damage to the Decepticon, it was enough to force her backwards and to abandon chasing after Arcee and Jack for the time being. Arcee heaved a sigh of relief as Fireflight roared overhead and looped back around for another strafing run, allowing Arcee to drive further around the building and away from the fight.

Transforming back to her root mode, she carefully set the barely conscious young man down on the ground, staring down at him with worried optics. "I-I'm fine," He assured her weakly, leaning back against the wall tiredly. "You've gotta- gotta save my Mom. Leah's in there as well-"

"They'll be fine, I promise," The femme interrupted firmly, standing back up from her squat. "I'll do whatever it takes; you just focus on staying awake and safe."

Jack hesitated a moment before nodding weakly and regretting it immediately as his head spun. Clutching at his head, he glanced up at her. "I trust you."

Nodding in response, Arcee transformed and took off; dearly hoping his belief in her wasn't misplaced as she raced back towards Dead End and Fireflight.

She reached them just in time to witness the flyer getting shot out of the sky, landing in a heap of smoke with a sickening crunch. Muttering curses to herself and hoping the other Autobot was alright, Arcee wasted no time in roaring towards Dead End, transforming and throwing herself with all her momentum at the Decepticon and punching her in the face. At least, that's what she'd aimed for; she'd instead collided with whatever energy field surrounded the Decepticon. It fizzled slightly, but held strong, allowing Dead End to toss Arcee to the ground dismissively.

"Nice try," The black femme stated flatly, looking less than impressed as she shook her head and huffed; "What kind of idiot can't spot a force field?"

Arcee glared in response, hauling herself back up to her feet and spotting the rubble that was Fireflight moving slightly. "The kind that doesn't need one," The small blue femme responded flatly, unsheathing her fore-arm blades and taking a defensive stance. "_I'm_ not a coward."

Dead End simply snorted in mild amusement, returning to picking at her nails disinterestedly. "Because I care what you think right?" She replied sarcastically. "I'm just here to _stall_ you; I don't have to fight you, or whatever you want to call that pathetic excuse of an attack."

Gritting her jaw in frustration, Arcee growled and threw herself into another useless attack, slicing at the force field with her blades and throwing a few powerful kicks. Again, the field fizzled slightly, but remained solid, and again Dead End threw her at the hard concrete.

"Give it up Autobot, this is boring," She complained with a long-suffering sigh, completely missing Fireflight struggling back to her feet and reconfiguring her cannon as she took aim. Arcee didn't.

The Blue bot picked herself up once more, sheathing her blades and instead readying her blasters. They only had one shot at this; she really hoped it worked as she didn't know how much time June and the others had.

"You're not really an out-of-the-box thinker are you?" Dead End commented with a raised eye-ridge. "What exactly do you think those are going to do that your flimsy blades didn't?"

"Humour me," Arcee replied with an optic-roll, taking aim at the Con's head and firing repeatedly.

As expected, they collided with the shield, achieving nothing more than the blades had done, at least until a plasma blast collided with the back of Dead End's head right as the field flickered. It shattered; the end of the blast burning through the back of the Con's head and causing her to collapse in pain in an instant.

"Woo!" 'Flight cheered, her once-again mangled wings flicking lopsidedly in excitement as she returned her cannon to her back and hurried over to Arcee. "Are you alright?" She asked, tilting her head and looking over the various scrapes and dents scattering Arcee's frame. "Those throws looked like they hurt."

Arcee merely blinked and shook her head, returning her blasters to hands. "You crashed out of the sky and you're asking if I'm okay?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, but I do that all the time, I'm guessing you don't just randomly fall over all the time," Fireflight replied, beginning to follow after the other femme as she cautiously moved towards the hangar. "Do you?"

"Shush," Arcee demanded, pressing her head against the main doors, trying to hear inside.

* * *

Ratchet was still in a losing argument with the computer when he heard one of the human-sized doors open and close quietly. "Jack if that's you-" He started, fully prepared with one of the lectures he usually gave Miko, at least until he spotted the large metal cat and its unconscious prisoner. "Ravage."

_'Ratchet I believe_?' The cat responded politely enough, setting the human on the ground and taking a seat beside her, stretching itself out. '_I've heard a lot about you over the years.'_

"What do you want?" The medic responded warily, taking a step towards the cat only to stop when it raised its claws to the unconscious human's throat.

_'Don't play stupid, we both know you're much smarter than that,'_ Ravage replied with a pointed glare. _'I have one of your precious squishies and to my knowledge you're the only one capable of freeing Soundwave for me. So let's skip the usual pointless denial and get on with it, I don't have all day.'_

Ratchet sighed and glanced down at his feet, well aware that he was trapped. He wouldn't willingly allow one of the humans to get hurt and the Con knew it. His only real chance was to take long enough for one of the other bots to return, but judging by the racket outside, that wasn't likely. But freeing Soundwave…

The cat let out an irritated growl as a reminder to hurry up, picking at June's clothes with its claws.

Sighing once again, Ratchet returned to the computer, inputting the required coordinates into the Earth bridge's controls. "You need to stop whatever interference you're causing if you expect me to get in contact with Cybertron," He informed the Con sharply.

Ravage stared off into space for a moment before replying; _'It's down, now hurry up. Anything clever and the squishy's dead.'_

Grumbling to himself, the medic contacted the Cybertron base, quickly convincing Bumblebee to open a bridge at the specific coordinates, claiming an emergency and that his own bridge was inactive, all the while feeling like the most pathetic Autobot ever.

* * *

Sideswipe reached Jazz in time to find his twin unconscious on the ground and looking downright awful, while the ninja sat nearby, staring oddly at one of his blades. Unable to place the look, having never seen it before on his commander, the pilot pushed it aside for now, instead wandering over to inspect his twin.

"Is he- Is he alright?" He asked quietly, well aware of how idiotic he sounded.

Even after everything Sunny had done to them all over the years, he couldn't bring himself to hate his brother, or give up hope of him changing again someday. It bothered most of his team and friends, making them wonder how he could possibly forgive and forget. He just figured it was a twin thing. That or Mirage was right and he was a…what did he call him? A soft-sparked, bumbling moron?

"Yeah," Jazz replied quietly, shaking him out of his thoughts. "You know Sunshine; blew the bugger up and he still kept fightin'."

Sideswipe smiled weakly and nodded. "Yeah, he's always been annoying that way," He mumbled, glancing over at Sunstreaker again and commenting wryly; "He's gonna throw a fit when he sees his paint."

"Sides…" Jazz said warningly, getting to his feet.

"I know, I know. He's the enemy now and blah, blah, blah." The pilot interrupted, shaking his head. "I've heard it all before. What are we going to do with him now?"

The ninja shook his own head and glanced back towards the hangar in time to see a rather satisfied-looking Ravage exit the building and disappear into the shadows of another. "I dunno yet, but I think we got bigger problems now."

The two bots returned to the base with the rather mangled Sunstreaker being hauled between them, really hoping he stayed unconscious long enough for them to figure out where to keep him and maybe come up with explanations for the other bots. Not that they were an issue at the moment, with both Ratchet and Arcee all huddled up in the med bay, fussing over Jack and June and having what Jazz called 'their own little pity party'. Apparently both bots blamed themselves. That was going to be _such fun_ to deal with later.

Fireflight and Smokescreen however were both in the main room, 'Flight curled up on a crate, her damaged wings flicking behind her on occasion, while she watched Smokecreen on the floor with Leah, once again keeping the child occupied, this time with stuffed animals and silly voices.

Eventually they settled on slapping a pair of stasis cuffs on Sunstreaker and leaving him in a now-empty storage room until Ratchet had time to look at him, and returning to the main room to collapse onto crates themselves.

"So did they end up freeing Soundwave?" Fireflight piped up after a little while, tilting her head curiously.

Jazz shrugged, leaning back against the wall. "Best as Ratch can figure, yeah. No real way of tellin' until we actually see him though. It'll probably be soon considerin' we have Sunshine and Dead End got away."

"Yeah…sorry about that," The Aerial replied sheepishly. "Guess I should've shot her in the head more than once huh?" She offered cheerily, earning her an odd look from all three male bots in the room.

"You're kind of scary," Smokescreen commented with a grin and a shake of his head. "Might actually make things interesting around here again."

Jazz rolled his optics behind his visor and snorted. "Oh you have no idea."

* * *

**Next Episode: Care**  
_Knock Out's role in Soundwave's escape is uncovered. Sideswipe and Fireflight babysit Leah._

* * *

_So it's been like a month. Whoops. I also apologise for the end of this chapter, it's rushed and awful, but I just wanted the damn thing done. Also, expect a grammar edit in a few days when I actually read this over at a time that is not 1AM. _

_Also, I did a good job matching up to my summary hey? We'll find out why no one's come back to Cybertron later. Oops._

_Thanks to everyone who's read, favourited, followed or reviewed! Much love! As always, I'm open to criticism and feedback._

_~Saani _


End file.
